Lazio held by Milan; Vieri strike saves Inter from blushes

Earlier, Milan’s city rivals Inter had to battle hard to record a 2-1 victory over Perugia at the San Siro with their most expensive player Christian Vieri scoring the winner 14 minutes from time.

It only took Lazio three minutes to take first blood in the battle between the winners of the last two Italian championships and the two surviving Serie A clubs in this season’s Champions League.

And the goal when it came was a beauty with Baggio, Lazio’s recent signing from Parma, letting fly from 25 yards and the ball going just inside Christian Abbiati’s right-hand post.

AC Milan did their level best to get back in the game in the first-half but a Lazio defence marshalled by Alessandro Nesta and Paolo Negro was allowing little opportunity for progress.

Shevchenko was frequently targeted for some uncompromising defending and Negro was booked after halting the progress of the Ukrainian.

And the visitors were further more forced to reshuffle their defence thanks to an injury to Alessandro Costacurta, who was replaced by Brazilian Julio Cesar. Another replacement for Milan was Brazilian Serginho who came on for Francesco Coco.

Just as looked as if Lazio would withstand the onslaught Shevchenko came up with the equaliser for Milan.

The baby-faced striker took advantage of indecision from Lazio’s Yugoslav defender Sinisa Mihajlovic and Nesta to square the match.

Shevchenko squandered a late chance to win it for Milan who finished with 10 men when midfielder Demetrio Albertini limped off three minutes from time as by that time they had used all three substitutes as Zvonimir Boban had also been replaced.

Milan coach Alberto Zaccheroni, who will be deprived of the services of Albertini, Coco and Costacurta for Tuesday’s Champions League match with Galatasaray of Turkey, lamented: “All the substitutions were because of injuries I can not remember the last time that happened.”

Earlier, on Saturday substitute Vieri scored a priceless 76th-minute winner as Inter Milan defeated Perugia 2-1 at the San Siro.

It was a vital goal for Vieri, still feeling his way back after a five-month injury lay-off, and equally important for Inter, defeated last week by unfashionable Lecce. The fears of home fans had been raised when Perugia skipper Marco Materazzi’s free-kick just before the half-hour mark levelled a ninth-minute opener by Alvaro Recoba for the home side.

After nine minutes Turkish striker Hakan Sukur started the move that led to the opening goal, feeding Luigi Di Biagio, who immediately found Javier Zanetti on the right.

Zanetti set up Recoba who transferred the ball to his left foot before finding the far corner from a tight angle. After 29 minutes the underdogs squared the match.

Ivan Cordoba gave a free-kick away on the edge of the Inter box by fouling Luca Saudati and Perugia defender Materazzi curled the free-kick around the wall into the far corner with his left foot.

Tardelli brought on Vieri after the break in place of French midfielder Benoit Cauet.

But just after the hour Perugia had a golden chance to take the lead. The ball fell perfectly to Saudati whose volley was perfect but Inter’s French goalkeeper Sebastien Frey made a breathtaking save at the expense of a corner, diving to his right.

Finally the goal came and Vieri, minutes earlier booked for diving, was the man. Recoba floated in a corner and the Italian international planted a firm header past Mazzantini from close range.

Vogts starts with a win
BERLIN: Berti Vogts, in his first match as Bayer Leverkusen coach, took his side top of the German Bundesliga with a 3-1 win over Hamburg on Saturday.The 53-year-old coach, who won the World Cup as a player and led Germany to European glory in 1996, stepped into the post after Rudi Voller left to take over the National squad.

“It’s wonderful to take over such a great team,” said Vogts after the match.

Paulo Rink got Leverkusen off the mark in less than a minute and put his side ahead again on 33 after Roy Praeger had equalised for Hamburg on 10.

Oliver Neuville rounded off the evening with his strike making it 3-1 on 73.It has been something of a merry-go-round at Leverkusen as Voller himself was a replacement for the successful but troubled Christoph Daum, forced from his post in a cocaine scandal last month.

Schalke 04’s 0-4 thumping of Hertha Berlin took them provisionally top earlier in the day as Bayern Munich missed their chance to go top, losing 1-2 at home to Eintracht Frankfurt.