Juve stay top as Roma held at Brescia

AS Roma were held to a goalless draw at lowly Brescia on Sunday, allowing rivals Juventus to stay top of Serie A.

Roma slipped down to third place, with Inter Milan moving above them on goal difference after Christian Vieri scored twice in a 3-0 win at Verona.

Juventus, who beat Fiorentina 2-1 on Saturday, lead with 47 points from Inter and Roma on 46, although Inter have the better goal difference.

Parma's run of three straight wins came to an end with a 1-0 home defeat by Torino after a last-gasp goal from Gianluca Comotto.

Lazio now have just one win from their last 10 games after a header five minutes from time by Nicola Legrottaglie gave Chievo a 1-1 draw at the Olympic stadium.

Roma, with playmaker Francesco Totti left on the bench ahead of Wednesday's Champions League game at Barcelona, were fortunate to escape with a point after Brescia striker Luca Toni had a last-minute goal controversially disallowed.

Fabio Capello's side, who were knocked out of the Italian Cup by Brescia and also drew their home game against the northern club, are now unbeaten in 20 games, but will be disappointed with a second straight goalless draw.

Apart from headers by Gabriel Batistuta and Vincenzo Montella, Roma barely troubled Brescia keeper Luca Castellazzi, although Brazilian Cafu put the ball in the net from an offside position.

The drama came in the final minute when Brescia thought they had grabbed a shock winner after Fabrizio Caracciolo's header came back off the post and was forced over the line by striker Luca Toni.

The decision to rule out the goal, possibly for a foul on Roma keeper Francesco Antonioli by Caracciolo, led to lengthy and angry protests from the Brescia players and caused their coach Carlo Mazzone to be sent off.

NO DISPUTING

There was no disputing Inter's win at Verona, which ended a run of three games without a win for Hector Cuper's side.

Italy striker Vieri was once again the match-winner, setting up Cristiano Zanetti's opener in the 31st minute before scoring twice himself after the break.

His first was a thumping header from a Clarence Seedorf corner in the 57th minute before Vieri sealed the victory, outpacing the Verona defence as he raced on to a flick from Nicola Ventola before firing home.

Vieri now has 16 goals this season and is second top scorer in Serie A behind Piacenza striker Dario Hubner, who continued his prolific form with two goals in his side's 5-0 crushing of bottom-club Venezia.

Former Roma midfielder Eusebio Di Francesco also scored twice for Piacenza after Carmine Gautieri had opened the scoring in the sixth minute.

Lazio remained trapped in mid-table after Chievo once again showed their fighting spirit to come back for a deserved draw -- which kept them in fourth place.

Lazio's Argentine striker Hernan Crespo saw a 68th minute penalty brilliantly saved by Chievo's ex-Roma keeper Cristiano Lupatelli, and there was more frustration five minutes later when Simone Inzaghi looked to have been brought down by Lupatelli but no penalty was awarded.

But Inzaghi broke the deadlock in the 76th minute, tapping home after Lupatelli had pushed out a Crespo shot, only for Legrottaglie to equalise with a powerful header from a corner.

A last-minute goal from Giovanni Tedesco gave Perugia a 2-1 win over Lecce to extend their unbeaten run to four games.

Bologna kept up the pressure on Chievo in the battle for the fourth Champions League qualification spot after Julio Cruz gave them a 1-0 win at Udinese to continue an impressive run of form for Francesco Guidolin's side.