ROME

Even with ten men Juve manage to go two points clear at top

ROME, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Juventus beat Lecce 1-0 on Sunday despite playing the whole of the second half with 10 men and went two points clear at the top of the Italian first division.

French playmaker Zinedine Zidane gave Juve their points with a 26th minute strike from a freekick before his team mate Alessio Tacchinardi was sent off on the stroke of halftime for contesting a booking.

Carlo Ancelotti's side could be overtaken later in the day by Lazio, who were due to take on sixth-placed Parma at the Olympic stadium in the evening.

Juventus have 44 points to Lazio's 42.

AS Roma had captain Francesco Totti sent off for dissent after just 20 minutes and then threw away a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 at Perugia.

Japanese midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata scored his first goal for Roma against his former club and coach Fabio Capello was dismissed from the bench.

Inter Milan were held 1-1 at home by struggling Torino and remain fifth while Fiorentina needed a second half strike from Argentine saviour Gabriel Batistuta to salvage a 1-1 home draw with Udinese.

Fiorentina 1 Udinese 1Fiorentina had the better chances but needed Gabriel Batistuta to salvage a point. The Argentine made the scoresheet for the third successive weekend to cancel out Martin Joergensen's header for the visitors. Rui Costa hit the Udinese bar with a bullet shot at the end of the first half.

Inter Milan 1 Torino 1Uruguayan defender Gustavo Mendez scored his first of the season to stun the San Siro before Christian Vieri equalised for Inter with a powerful header from 12 metres. Torino's Fabio Galante hit the woodwork with an early effort against his former club while Alvaro Recoba had an inspired match for Inter.

Lazio 0 Parma 0 Lazio's Croatian striker Alen Boksic had two worthwhile appeals for penalties refused while at the other end Parma's Hernan Crespo missed two golden first half chances.

Perugia 2 AS Roma 2 Roma captain and playmaker Francesco Totti was sent off for pushing the referee after 20 minutes but his side were 2-0 up by the interval thanks to goals from Japan's Hidetoshi Nakata -- against his former club - and Vincenzo Montello from the penalty spot. A brace of goals from midfielder Renato Olive after the break gave Perugia their point. Roma coach Fabio Capello was banished to the stands for dissent.

Piacenza 0 Reggina 0 Dull relegation dogfight which left Piacenza anchored in bottom spot and Reggina just clear of the relegation zone.

Venezia 3 Cagliari 0 Two goals from Maurizio Ganz early in the second half turned the match Venezia's way, gave new coach Francesco Oddo his first victory in charge and stopped the rot at a Venezia side who had conceded 10 goals in their previous two matches. Both sides remain in trouble.

Played Saturday:

Bari 1 Verona 1 Dull match enlivened only slightly by the appearance after halftime of Bari's promising 17-year-old striker Antonio Cassano. Verona, 16th in the 18-team league will be the happier with their point against a Bari side still unbeaten at home this season.

Bologna 2 AC Milan 3 Bologna had only conceded one goal in 10 home league matches before Saturday but Milan were 3-0 up within an hour courtesy of goals from Ivan Gattuso, Andriy Shevchenko and Oliver Bierhoff. The home side then scored twice in two minutes but Milan held on for a win which lifted them to third.

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