Milan fail to impress Capello, despite win

JUVENTUS coach Fabio Capello insisted his team didn’t deserve their 3-1 defeat to AC Milan which ended the Serie A leaders’ 100% league record on Saturday night.

Milan blew away the champions with first-half goals from Clarence Seedorf, Kaka and Andrea Pirlo before David Trezeguet pulled one back in the 76th minute.

Milan's win was their seventh in a row and cut Juve's lead to just two points but Capello was unimpressed.

"I'm not just saying this just to lift our morale but I can only compliment my lads on the performance," said the 59-year-old, whose team came into the match on the back of nine consecutive league victories the best ever start in Italy's top division.

"I didn't think Milan were great but their shots went in and ours didn't. That was the difference between the two teams."

Not surprisingly, Capello's view contrasted starkly with that of his counterpart Carlo Ancelotti.

"We produced a world-class performance on every level," he said.

Fiorentina moved to within five points of Juventus after fighting back from a goal down to beat Cagliari 2-1 yesterday. David Suazo capitalised on a weak back-pass to give the Sardinians a first-half lead and increase their hopes of claiming their first win of the campaign. But Luca Toni toe-poked his 12th goal of the season to level the score before Martin Jorgensen's low drive sealed victory.

Juventus have 27 points from their 10 matches played, followed by AC Milan on 25, Fiorentina on 22 and Inter on 19.

Livorno beat Parma 2-0 to climb to fifth place. Headed goals from captain Cristiano Lucarelli and Stefano Morrone in the first half sealed victory and maintained the club's unbeaten home record.

An injury-time header from French defender Philippe Mexes gave Roma a 2-1 win at home to Ascoli.

In Spain, Osasuna maintained their leadership of La Liga with a 2-0 win over Espanyol but champions Barcelona are breathing down their necks after a thumping 5-0 win against Real Sociedad.

Few would have expected Osasuna to be occupying their current lofty position despite the acknowledged motivational qualities of their Mexican coach Javier Aguirre.

David Lopez and Ianki Munoz got the goals that continued the fairytale for at least another week and maintained their 100% home record.

"We did well and it was the spectators that thrust us forward. Now we I am thinking about is that we need to be a bit more consistant and play better away from home," said Aguirre.

Osasuna now have 21 points from 10 games while Barcelona move up to second following their 5-0 thrashing of Real Sociedad.

Dutch midfielder Mark van Bommel started the deluge for the Catalan club, scoring after 17 minutes.

World Player of the Year Ronaldinho then turned on some of his magic to find the net after 35 and 59 minutes before Carles Puyol and Henrik Larsson headed goals in the last 15 minutes to complete Sociedad's miserable night.

Real Madrid are third on 18 points after their 2-0 win at Real Betis on Saturday, with the goals for the 29-times Spanish champions coming from Robinho and second half substitute Alvaro Mejia.

Despite the loss, Betis coach Lorenzo Serra Ferrer has not given up hope of inflicting a surprise defeat on Chelsea in the Champions League tomorrow night.

"We will try," he said. "Chelsea are a very good team. But sometimes things that you are not expecting to happen do happen when you don't think they will and you can never lose hope of getting a good result."

Deportivo La Coruna notched up their second win in five days over a team from the Spanish capital when they beat Getafe 1-0 yesterday. At the other end of the table, Real Mallorca continued to extricate themselves from the relegation zone with a 1-1 draw with Sevilla.

Germany captain Michael Ballack underlined his importance to champions Bayern Munich by scoring yet another decisive late goal to clinch a 2-1 comeback win over FC Cologne on Saturday.

Ballack, who has yet to decide whether to extend his contract beyond the end of the season, produced a 76th-minute header to sink Cologne and keep his team at the summit.

Lille tuned up for Manchester United's Champions League visit next week with a well-earned 1-1 draw against Marseille.

Marseille, seeking to pick themselves up after two straight defeats, took a 29th minute lead through Sergio Koke before Milenko Acimovic levelled six minutes after the break.

In the Czech Republic, Sparta Prague who face Arsenal at Highbury in the Champions League on Wednesday crashed to their fourth league defeat in five games with a humiliating 4-1 defeat at the hands of SK Slavia Praha at the Strahov stadium their worst derby result since 1989.

In Belgium, Anderlecht, who travel to Anfield tomorrow night, drew 2-2 away to KSC Lokeren OV.