As Roma and Udinese served notice to Serie A pacesetters Inter Milan and Juventus yesterday that the Italian title race is more than just a two-horse race. Roma swept aside Atalanta Bergamo 3-0 with three first-half goals and German Oliver Bierhoff scored twice in Udinese's 4-3 win over Bologna as both sides kept in touch with the top two.
Tied for third in the table, Roma and Udinese are just five points adrift of league leaders Inter and three behind Juventus. Fifth-placed Parma fell further off the pace, drawing 1-1 at Fiorentina.
Inter and reigning champions Juventus have looked like dominating the title race in recent matches. On Saturday, both stretched their unbeaten starts to the season to 11 matches with Inter drawing 1-1 at Sampdoria and Juventus winning 2-1 at home to Lazio.
Alessandro del Piero showed what Juventus will miss against Manchester United in next Wednesday's Champions' League clash - a match they must win to stand a chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals. Del Piero, suspended for the European match, scored both his side's goals, putting them ahead in the 15th minute and then converting a 34th minute penalty after Dario Marcolin's spotkick had briefly levelled the score.
A 30th minute penalty from Sampadoria's Vincenzo Montella, awarded for a foul on debutant Giuseppe Signori, brought Inter's run of five successive away wins to a halt after Ronaldo had scored with his first touch of the ball in the ninth minute.
In Spain, Barcelona emerged from a month-long crisis to knock Real Madrid off the top of the league. The Catalans beat Real Zaragoza 2-1 in their best game of the season under former Ajax coach Louis Van Gaal while Real let Oviedo in for a late equaliser and drew 1-1.
Sergi Barjuan and Rivaldo were the scorers for Barcelona, Santi Aragon for Zaragoza. Atletico Madrid beat Sporting Gijon 2-1 to stay third, three points behind Real and five adrift of Barcelona.
In Holland, Ajax, with a 1-0 home win against Roda JC Kerkrade, sealed with a 10th-minute Tijjani Babangida goal, stretched their overall league lead to a massive 15 points. In Germany, Kaiserslautern opened up a sevenpoint lead this weekend.
