Italian Football: Van Basten unable to lift Milan

INTERNAZIONALE may be running out of games, but they are determined to push their illustrious city rivals all the way to the finishing line in Italy's Serie A.

Inter strolled to a 3-0 success over lowly Ancona, while Milan were held to a 0-0 draw at another club in the relegation zone, Udinese. The defending champions and European Cup finalists now lead by just four points, with five games to play. Six weeks ago, the margin was 11 points.

Milan were without the injured Jean-Pierre Papin and Marco Simone, while Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard were with the Dutch World Cup squad preparing for their Wembley date this week. Their third Dutchman, Marco van Basten, who has just recovered from an ankle operation, made his first appearance since 13 December as a second-half substitute, but was unable to make an impact. Milan have now gone seven games without a win.

Uruguay's Ruben Sosa scored another double - his third in five weeks - to take his season's tally for Inter to 16 goals. Their veteran captain, Giuseppe Bergomi, had opened the scoring for the Nerazzuri.

ITALIAN LEAGUE: Atalanta 1 (Minaudo 81) Sampdoria 2 (Lombardo 33, Bertarelli 86); Foggia 0 Torino 0; Genoa 1 (Skuhravy 45) Brescia 1 (Sabau 6); Internazionale 3 (Bergomi 9, Sosa 29, 55) Ancona 0; Juventus 3 (Marocchi 60, Ravanelli 77, R Baggio pen 90) Fiorentina 0; Lazio 2 (Favalli 22, Signori pen 89) Pescara 1 (Allegri pen 43); Napoli 1 (Zola 89) Cagliari 0; Parma 3 (Osio 4, 75, Pizzi 13) Roma 1 (Aldair 73); Udinese 0 Milan 0.

----------------------------------------------------------------- P W D L F A Pts ----------------------------------------------------------------- Milan 29 17 10 2 58 27 44 Internazionale 29 15 10 4 52 32 40 Lazio 29 11 12 6 55 40 34 Juventus 29 13 8 8 48 36 34 Parma 29 14 6 9 40 30 34 Sampdoria 29 12 9 8 45 40 33 Torino 29 8 15 6 31 24 31 Atalanta 29 12 7 10 35 37 31 Cagliari 29 12 6 11 33 30 30 Roma 29 8 13 8 33 29 29 Napoli 29 10 9 10 42 39 29 Foggia 29 9 10 10 32 43 28 Fiorentina 29 7 11 11 42 48 25 Genoa 29 6 13 10 33 48 25 Udinese 29 9 6 14 34 42 24 Brescia 29 6 10 13 26 40 22 Ancona 29 5 7 17 33 58 17 Pescara 29 4 4 21 35 64 12 -----------------------------------------------------------------