Roma are within two points of leaders

AS ROMA moved within two points of leaders AC Milan and Juventus with goals from Vincenzo Montella and John Carew giving them a 2-0 victory over Reggina in Serie A yesterday.

Montella opened the scoring after 18 minutes as he beat the offside trap, controlled the ball and fired past Reggina goalkeeper Enrico Belardi for his third of the season.

After Reggina's David Di Michele had a goal disallowed for offside, youngster Daniele De Rossi provided Carew the opportunity to slot home from close range by feeding the Norwegian with a cheeky flick nine minutes from time.

European champions Milan and Italian title holders Juventus drew 1-1 in their top-of-the-table clash on Saturday and have 20 points to Roma's 18.

Parma moved into fourth place after they came back from 2-1 down at Brescia to win 3-2, but their Brazilian striker Adriano was carried off with what appeared to be a serious hamstring injury.

A brilliant equaliser six minutes from time from Marco Di Vaio salvaged a point for Juve in their table-topping clash with AC. Di Vaio latched on to a flicked pass from strike partner David Trezeguet to lash a blistering left-foot volley into the top corner of the net.

AC Milan had taken the lead just after the hour mark when Jon Dahl Tomasson got on the end of a prodded Andrea Pirlo pass and fired home from inside the six-yard box.

Lazio picked up their fifth win in eight Serie A games this season after edging out Udinese. All three goals came in a 16-minute spell midway through the first half with Lazio striker Bernardo Corradi claiming the opener in the 17th minute with a header.

Udinese equalised 11 minutes later thanks to a superb volley by Vicenzo Iaquinta but, after only five minutes, Simone Inzaghi popped up at the other end to slot home a parried Dejan Stankovic shot for the winner.

In last night's game Inter moved up to 7th after a comfortable 2-0 win against Chievo with Vieri and Recoba scoring in a four minute spell.

In Spain, World Player of the Year Ronaldo produced a virtuoso performance to steer Real Madrid to a 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao that sent them top of the Primera Liga on Saturday after Deportivo Coruna were held to a 0-0 draw by lowly Murcia.

The Brazilian striker, who had hit a minor drought after failing to score for three games, produced two brilliant finishes either side of the break and then served up a third for Luis Figo as he turned in a match-winning performance at the Bernabeu.

Earlier Deportivo, turned in a lame performance in their goalless draw against a determined Murcia at the Condomina stadium.

Despite the apparently comfortable scoreline, Bilbao pushed Real hard throughout the 90 minutes and it took a string of stunning reflex saves from keeper Iker Casillas to keep the champions in the game early on and deny the visitors a deserved goal.

But it was the deadly finishing of Ronaldo that finally broke the deadlock. Lurking inside the area, the Brazilian controlled a loose ball with his shoulder, turned sharply and sent a cracking right-foot shot fizzing inside the far post on 34 minutes.

Bilbao continued to press after the break, but once again it was Ronaldo's contribution that proved decisive.

He fended off three Bilbao players with a dazzling jinking run before finishing off with a perfectly placed shot from the edge of the area this time with his left foot to make it 2-0 on 55 minutes.

The Brazilian, who now tops the scoring charts with eight goals, completed a vintage performance when he unselfishly set up Real's third for Figo.

Ten-man Barcelona fought back to earn a 3-3 draw against Real Sociedad in a breathless see-saw Primera Liga encounter at Anoeta yesterday.

The result allowed the Catalans to climb to fifth place in the table, level on points with Atletico Madrid, who earlier scored their fourth victory in a row with a 2-1 win away to Real Betis.

Teenage striker Fernando Torres was the star of the show for Atletico as he notched both goals to help his side come from behind to claim a valuable away win.

Betis took the lead midway through the first half when Brazilian midfielder Marcos Assuncao scored with a trademark free kick from 20 metres out, but Torres levelled the game just before the break with an acrobatic flying volley.

The 19-year-old Spanish international then grabbed the winner, and his sixth goal in four games, when he blasted in from the penalty spot after Greek strike partner Demis Nikolaidis had been felled in the area.

In Germany, Bayer Leverkusen surrendered the lead in the Bundesliga when they were held to a 0-0 draw at Kaiserslautern yesterday.