Udinese and Lazio stay close to leaders Juve

ROME (AP):

Udinese and Lazio each won yesterday to move both clubs back within a point of Serie A leaders Juventus.

Antonio Di Natale scored his league-leading seventh goal as Udinese edged Palermo 1-0, while Senad Lulic, Miroslav Klose and Tommaso Rocchi found the target in Lazio's 3-0 win at Cagliari.

Juventus lead with 19 points, Udinese and Lazio have 18 each and defending champion AC Milan are next with 17.

Juventus won 2-1 at Inter Milan on Saturday and Milan posted a 3-2 victory at Roma for their fourth consecutive win.

In Udine, Di Natale scored with a volley from the centre of the area in the 38th minute.

Serie A's top scorer from the past two seasons also hit the crossbar in the 10th and squandered a great chance to double the lead two minutes after his goal.

Last-minute decision

"I didn't know if Toto was available until the last minute," said Udinese coach Francesco Guidolin said. "He warmed up and that went well ... and then he often scores."

In Cagliari, Bosnian midfielder Lulic scored with a long shot from beyond the area in the 39th and Klose doubled the lead with a header from the top of the box following a cross from Djibril Cisse in the 44th.

Klose increased his tally to eight goals in 11 matches in all competitions since joining Lazio from Bayern Munich.

Rocchi added another for Lazio in the 88th.

In the lunchtime fixture, Siena posted a convincing 4-1 win over Chievo Verona to move into seventh place.

Also yesterday, Fiorentina narrowly beat Genoa 1-0 with a 41st-minute strike from Andrea Lazzari to save coach Sinisa Mihajlovic's job. Fiorentina defender Alessandro Gamberini hit the crossbar in the 78th and the ball appeared to deflect into the goal, but the referee thought otherwise.

Bologna distanced themselves from the relegation zone with a 3-1 win over Atalanta.