Chilean Alexis Sanchez and Fabio Quaglieralla, with his fourth goal of the season, were Udinese's scorers at Catania as they stayed ahead of Napoli on goal difference. Napoli, looking for its best season since the days of Diego Maradona, was the only one of the league's 20 teams to score more than two goals as it trounced Reggina 3-0 on a hat trick from Argentine striker German Denis.
One point behind them in third place is AC Milan, who just managed to overcome Siena in the San Siro on goals from Filippo Inzaghi and Kaka. "We are doing nothing extraordinary," admitted Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti, "we are just doing our part. We managed to react to a negative start to the season. Now we are solid and compact." Milan hosts Napoli on Sunday.
Fiorentina and Inter fought out a 0-0 draw that pushed the champions down to fourth place. "This was a very difficult match and neither of the two teams risked too much," said Inter coach Jose Mourinho after the team's second successive 0-0 tie. "It was a match without goals but it was a true league match. It's not easy to win here. With so many matches close together I have nothing to blame my players for and I'm happy with tonight's performance."
In the ninth game of the season there was jubilation for Juventus as it finally managed to score more than one goal in its 2-1 win at Bologna, thanks to a brace from Pavel Nedved. "We played well and showed our will to win," said Juve coach Claudio Ranieri. "We were tight and suffered only in the last 10 minutes of the match."
Lazio left it late to win at Chievo Verona by two goals to one, thanks to an own goal from Verona's Andrea Mantovani. Roma's home game with Sampdoria was abandoned after six minutes due to heavy rain with the score at 0-0. Though who's to say it wouldn't have stayed that way?
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