Francesco Moriero struck a superb solo goal as Serie A leaders Inter Milan bounced back from a midweek cup drubbing with a morale-boosting 1-0 Italian league win at Piacenza yesterday.
Moriero calmed the nerves after his side's humiliating 5-0 Italian cup quarter-final first leg defeat to neighbours AC Milan with a 69th minute run worthy of team-mate Ronaldo.
With 11 wins in 15 matches and just one defeat, Inter remain four points clear of nearest rivals Juventus.
Picking the ball up wide on the right, Moriero dribbled past three defenders before placing a precise shot in the far corner beyond the despairing dive of Matteo Sereni.
With Ronaldo marked out of the game by 38-year-old veteran Pietro Vierchowod, Piacenza showed why Juventus, Milan and Lazio have all dropped points on their ground this season.
Goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca repeatedly denied Davide Dionigi in the first-half and the home side threatened to equalise until the dying seconds, when midfielder Alessandro Mazzola's dismissal finally forced them to admit defeat.
Reigning champions Juventus shrugged off last week's defeat at Inter to condemn European Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finalists Vicenza to their fourth successive defeat.
Alessandro Del Piero's first-half penalty - his 11th goal of the season - and captain Ciro Ferrara's 76th minute header provided the goals.
Fourth-placed Parma lost ground on the leading group with a disastrous 5-2 thrashing at Sampdoria, for whom Giuseppe Signori scored his first goals since leaving Lazio in December.
As AC Milan and AS Roma played out a scoreless draw at the San Siro, Lazio leap-frogged over both clubs into fifth-spot with a 40 win against lowly Lecce at the Olympic stadium.
Roberto Rambaudi and Diego Fuser broke a first-half deadlock before Croat Alen Boksic took his recent goal tally to six in five matches with two late strikes.
Serie A's top scorer Gabriel Batistuta of Argentina raised his season's total to 14 by firing home Fiorentina's second in an impressive 3-1 win at Brescia.
Unbeaten since last October, the Florentine side are now sixth in Serie A, ahead of Roma and Milan on goal difference.
With out-of-form Dutchman Patrick Kluivert replacing injured Yugoslav Dejan Savicevic upfront, Milan rarely looked like repeating last Thursday's historic win against Inter.
Instead it was Roma who nearly stole the points with Francesco Totti's injury-time half-volley crashing back off the cross-bar.
