AC Milan Climbs Up To Fourth Place; Inter Salvages Home Draw

Eight games were played on Sunday in Italy's Serie A:

At Messina:

Kaka (14'), Giuseppe Favalli (30'), and Ronaldo (86') provided the goals that propelled AC Milan into the fourth and final Champions League berth as the Rossoneri held off relegation-threatened Messina 3-1.

At Milan:

Second-half tallies from Julio Ricardo Cruz (66') and Ricardo (74') enabled runaway league-leading Inter Milan to remain unbeaten in league play as they stormed back from a two-goal deficit to gain a 2-2 home draw with Palermo, which knocked the visitors out of a Champions League qualifying berth.

At Ascoli:

Luis Jimenez' equalizer at 84 minutes enabled third-place Lazio to salvage a 2-2 road deadlock with last-place Ascoli.

At Parma:

In a Sicilian derby, relegation-threatened Parma (one point away from safety) and exiled Catania Calcio battled to a 1-1 stalemate. Gionathan Spinesi (20') put the visiting Elephants ahead, then Parma's Luca Cigarini equalized at 32 minutes.

At Florence:

Fiorentina got the measure of visiting AC Siena 1-0 in a Tuscany derby. Adrian Mutu provided the winning goal for the hosts at 43 minutes.

At Rome:

Francesco Totti's double (21', 66') helped AS Roma forget last week's Champions League demolition at Manchester United's hands as the Wolves clubbed visiting Sampdoria 4-0.

At Livorno (Leghorn):

Visiting Reggina and Livorno battled to a 1-1 draw. Cristiano Lucarelli (28') put Livorno in front, only to see Reggina's Rolando Bianchi equalize at 31 minutes.

At Turin:

First-half goals from Gianpaolo Bellini (1') and Riccardo Zampagna (8') enabled visiting Atalanta to hold off Torino 2-1.