Juventus and Milan did their best to stay in touch with runaway leaders Inter with victories yesterday in the Serie A after winning goals from Brazilian players.
Both teams were made to work hard and didn’t make their breakthrough until the second half, with Juventus needing a last-minute goal from Brazilian striker Amauri to win 2-1 after Lecce had equalized following Sebastian Giovinco’s opening goal.
Milan is third, level on 30 points with Juventus, but ended with an unimpressive 1-0 win over Catania, courtesy of Kaka’s 63rd-minute strike.
Inter, which beat Lazio 3-0 in Rome on Saturday, leads with 36 points.
Fourth-place Napoli and No. 5 Fiorentina both maintained pressure on the top three with impressive wins.
Second half goals from Christian Maggio and German Denis gave Napoli a 2-0 home win over Siena to leave it three points behind Juventus and Milan.
Fiorentina are a further point back following a 4-1 away win over Torino. Adrian Mutu opened the scoring early on and Alberto Gilardino made it 2-0 before the break.
Second-half goals from Zdravko Kuzmanovic and Gilardino, his 11th of the season, made the result safe despite Alessandro Rosina’s penalty for the hosts.
Also yesterday, it was: Atalanta 3, Udinese 0; Cagliari 1, Palermo 0; and Reggina 2, Bologna 2.
Juventus began the match with Giovinco replacing Alessandro Del Piero, who was rested ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League match with BATE Borisov, and most of the team’s best moves came when the youngster linked with Pavel Nedved.
However, it took until the 56th minute before the breakthrough, when Giovinco curled a free kick over the wall to leave goalkeeper Francesco Benussi with no chance.
With 11 minutes remaining, Lecce wasted an excellent chance to equalize when Jose Castillo headed over from in front of an open goal after Alberto Giuliatto had found him with a cross from the left.
Daniele Cacia drew Lecce level when he volleyed in Guilermo Giacomazzi’s deep cross off the post with seven minutes remaining.
Juventus grabbed the win when Paolo De Ceglie’s cross reached an unmarked Amauri at the far post, and the Brazilian headed home from close-range with one minute to go.
Milan, which meets Juventus in Turin next weekend, struggled to find its rhythm against a hard-working Catania side and nearly fell behind early on when Giuseppe Mascara hit the post.
In the absence of Ronaldinho, the creative responsibilities fell squarely on Kaka, with striker Andriy Shevchencko unable to make the most of the opportunities he was given.
It was Kaka who broke the deadlock on 63 minutes, heading in Alexandre Pato’s corner just seconds after the young Brazilian had forced a fine save from goalkeeper Albano Benjamin Bizzarri.
Mascara brought out the best from goalkeeper Christian Abbiati late on, but Carlo Ancelotti’s team held on for its first win in five matches.
Genoa won the derby beating Sampdoria 1-0 with a Milito goal in the late match.