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ROME (AP)—Juventus squandered a three-goal lead and drew 3-3 with Siena at
home Sunday, missing out on a chance to move back into the Champions League
places.

Alessandro Del Piero scored the 300th and 301st goals of his career and
Antonio Candreva also found the target for Juventus in the first 10 minutes
before Massimo Maccarone hit back for Siena and Abdel Ghezzal scored twice to
equalize.

“I don’t remember ever seeing a game like that,” Juventus coach Alberto
Zaccheroni said. “Our approach to the game was perfect. There was the risk of
underestimating the last-place team but we scored three goals in 10 minutes.

“Then we committed a mistake and mistakes hurt. We’re a great team when our
head is in the game. But once the focus is off anything can happen.”

AS Roma was also held to a 3-3 draw at Livorno, with Livorno captain
Cristiano Lucarelli scoring a hat trick and Roma midfielder David Pizarro
missing a penalty.

Palermo lost 3-2 at Udinese, which got two goals from Antonio Floro Flores.

Inter Milan was beat 3-1 by Catania on Friday but still leads with 59
points. AC Milan is next with 55 points and had a chance to cut the lead to one
point when it hosted Chievo Verona later.

Roma is third with 53 points, Palermo is next with 46 and Juventus is fifth
with 45.

Also Sunday, it was: Bologna 1, Sampdoria 1; Genoa 5, Cagliari 3; Lazio 0,
Bari 2; and Parma 1, Atalanta 0.

Juventus beat Fiorentina last weekend and downed Fulham 3-1 in the first leg
of the Europa League’s last 16 on Thursday. The Turin power looked like it was
on course for another victory when Del Piero struck twice in the opening seven
minutes.

The Juventus captain scored his first goal into an empty net after Candreva
carried the ball into the area two minutes in and a shot from Mohamed Sissoko
was blocked. Del Piero then connected on a volley from the center of the area
five minutes later.

Candreva, a recent Italy call-up, found the target in the 10th with a shot
from 30 meters (yards).

Maccarone pulled one back for Siena in the 16th with a shot from the edge of
the area and the Frenchman Ghezzal knocked in a rebound of a Maccarone shot that
hit the post in the 46th.

Ghezzal then converted a penalty for the equalizer in the 74th after
Maccarone was tripped by Zdenek Grygera.

Juventus used its third-choice goalkeeper, Antonio Chimenti, with Gianluigi
Buffon and Alex Manninger unavailable.

In Livorno, Lucarelli was the first to score, knocking in the 200th goal of
his career nine minutes in after beating the offside trap.

Simone Perrotta equalized for Roma less than a minute later following a heel
pass from Rodrigo Taddei, and Luca Toni put Roma up 2-1 in the 19th with a
header following a free kick.

Lucarelli again beat the offside trap in the 26th and dribbled around Roma
goalkeeper Julio Sergio to make it 2-2. Just two minutes later, Pizarro restored
Roma’s lead with a shot from the center of the area.

French forward Jeremy Menez earned Roma a penalty in the 39th but Pizarro’s
shot hit the post. Still, Roma had the lead until Brazil defender Juan stuck his
hand up to block a cross from Lucarelli in the 70th, resulting in a penalty that
Lucarelli converted for the final equalizer.

“His arms were open. That’s a penalty that can be called or not called,”
Roma coach Claudio Ranieri said. “We’re still lacking something if we want to
compete with Inter and Milan—a bit of luck.”

By GEOFF McALLISTER STATS European Football Writer=

LONDON (SE) – Sir Alex Ferguson challenged Wayne Rooney to beat Cristiano Ronaldo’s record goals haul in a season after the England striker’s double led Manchester United to a 3-0 win over Fulham on Sunday.

Rooney’s second-half brace took his tally to 32 goals, ten shy of Ronaldo’s 42 in United’s 2008/2009 Premier League and Champions League double winning campaign.

Dimitar Berbatov’s last-minute header sealed a comfortable win as the champions returned to the top of the table.

United manager Ferguson said afterwards: “I said a while ago I did not think it was possible for a player to get 42 goals but Wayne is on 32 now. There is a challenge there for him.

“If he can keep scoring goals in the next eight league games and perhaps we will still have another five matches in Europe so you never know, I am not putting it beyond him.

“We are enjoying his good form and enjoying his goals. They are making a big difference for us.”

Goals hero Rooney insists he is not motivated by beating Ronaldo’s record.

Rooney said: “It is always nice to score goals and I want to score in every game.

“What Cristiano achieved was unbelievable but I am a different person and a different player so I am not comparing myself to him. It does not bother me at all.”

In the build-up to the game Ferguson had called on his side to win all of their remaining nine league games to secure a record fourth successive title.

United looked to be feeling the affects of Wednesday’s Champions League 4-0 thrashing of AC Milan in a subdued first-half performance.

Berbatov’s free header over from Gary Neville’s cross was the closest the Red Devils came to finding a way past Mark Schwarzer, who also saved well from Rooney.

It took just a minute of the second half for normal service to resume as Rooney coolly side-footed past Schwarzer from Nani’s pinpoint cross.

Bobby Zamora wasted a golden chance to equalise when he was played one on one with Edwin van der Sar but took too long over his shot and allowed Nemanja Vidic to get back and make a block.

Schwarzer showed great reactions to deny Darren Fletcher a second before Rooney doubled his tally in the 84th minute.

Berbatov showed great footwork to beat two Fulham defenders down the right before crossing for Rooney to fire home from close range.

Berbatov completed the scoring by heading in substitute Park Ji-Sung’s cross in the dying seconds.

Ferguson believes that goal could prove crucial come the end of the season.

“At the moment it looks like being one of the closest title races in years. It is very tight and goal difference could be important.

“We are four goals ahead of Chelsea but I wish it was 14.

“Fulham with their possession made us work hard and had us chasing the ball a little bit.

“We needed to inject more pace into our game in the second half and getting the goal straight after half time was important.”

Fulham manager Roy Hodgson felt the scoreline was hard on his team.

Hodgson said: “I thought the first half for our side was really quite good.

“We deserved more than the 3-0 scoreline and I could not have asked for any more from the players. In the end we got beaten by a better team.”

* Lucarelli hat-trick slows Roma title bid

* Wayward Juve draw 3-3 with Siena as Del Piero hits 300

(adds details, byline, quotes)

By Mark Meadows

MILAN, March 14 (Reuters) – AS Roma failed to put extra
pressure on stuttering leaders Inter Milan when they were held
to a 3-3 draw at lowly Livorno amid a flurry of goals in Serie A
on Sunday.

A Cristiano Lucarelli hat-trick for third-bottom Livorno
meant third-placed Roma could only move to within six points of
Inter, who lost 3-1 at Catania on Friday.

“We also have the game against Inter at home so it’s not
over,” Roma’s first goalscorer Simone Perrotta told Sky TV with
his eye on the March 28 clash.

“It’s normal you get tired, we’ve played lots of matches.
We’ve got to rediscover the right physical condition.”

AC Milan in second can slash Inter’s lead to just a point
with 10 games left if they beat Chievo at home later (1945 GMT).

Palermo stayed fourth despite a 3-2 defeat at Udinese, who
went seven clear of the drop zone largely thanks to goals either
side of the break from striker Antonio Floro Flores.

Juventus, enduring a nightmare season, could have gone above
the Sicilians into the fourth and final Champions League
qualifying spot but blew a three-goal lead to draw 3-3 with
bottom side Siena in Turin.

Alessandro Del Piero scored his 300th and 301st Juve goals
inside the first seven minutes with a close-range finish and
superb volley before Antonio Candreva thumped in a third.

HAPLESS GRYGERA

Siena hit back through Massimo Maccarone and Abdelkader
Ghezzal, who then netted a leveller from the spot on 74 minutes
after hapless Juve defender Zdenek Grygera fouled Maccarone.

Sampdoria are a point behind fifth-placed Juventus after a
1-1 draw at Bologna with doubts over whether the home side’s
injury-time equaliser was offside.

Samp’s city rivals Genoa, two points further back, enlivened
their hopes of Europa League football next season with a
thrilling 5-3 victory over Cagliari.

Parma beat second bottom Atalanta 1-0 while famous Roman
club Lazio remain in deep trouble, two points above the
relegation zone, following a harrowing 2-0 home defeat by Bari.

Fans across Rome will be in despair after Roma twice took
the lead at Livorno only for a Lucarelli penalty, after a Juan
handball, to level the scores at 3-3 on 71 minutes.

Luca Toni had put Claudio Ranieri’s side 2-1 up with a
header and David Pizarro’s neat finish made it 3-2 before the
Chilean hit the post with a penalty.
(Editing by Pritha Sarkar; To query or comment on this story
email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)