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This weekend in the Italian championship, the twenty-second round of matches was played. "Milan" and "Fiorentina" played a draw, while the leaders "Juventus", "Inter", and the in-form "Roma" secured solid victories. "Milan" further diminished their chances of winning "Serie A" by playing a 1-1 draw at home with Genoa's "Sampdoria". The hosts took the lead in the 12th minute when Milan forward Filippo Inzaghi was fouled in the visitors' penalty area, and the referee awarded a penalty which was successfully converted by Andriy Shevchenko. Half an hour into the game, Sampdoria's defender Andrea Gasbarroni fell in the opposite penalty area, but the referee awarded him a foul instead of the defending Gennaro Gattuso. Nevertheless, A. Gasbarroni equalized the score a few minutes later with a powerful long-range shot into the net, also touching Milan defender Alessandro Nesta on the way. After this goal, the hosts appeared lost, but they were lucky not to concede another goal as Sampdoria players hit the crossbar twice before the halftime break. In the second half, Milan players had more chances to score. Andrea Pirlo, Clarence Seedorf, as well as substitute Alberto Gilardino, played dangerously, but the result remained the same - the country's vice champions played a draw and dropped two more points. Defending champions Turin's "Juventus" secured another victory, winning 3-1 away against underdogs "Ascoli" to prove that the club is still in good form. Frenchman David Trezeguet's hat-trick brought the victory for the Turin team. However, captain Alessandro Del Piero also significantly contributed to all the goals, showing impressive form lately. Another team captain demonstrating impressive form is Francesco Totti, leading "Roma" to a 3-0 home win against their direct competitors for fifth place, "Livorno". This was the sixth consecutive victory for Roma in the Italian championship, and fans of the fourth-placed "Fiorentina" should worry about the fast approaching Roma in the standings. The decreasing advantage in the standings is also the fault of the "Fiorentina" team, who failed to overcome the struggling "Udinese" side away from home and ended the match goalless. In this match, from the 23rd minute and the tenth player, as a red card was shown to team defender Roberto Baronio. Meanwhile, "Palermo" extended their series of setbacks at home, losing 1-3 shamefully to the "Siena" team. The guests' victory was determined by Erjano Bogdani's hat-trick. After this failure, "Palermo" president relieved head coach Luigi Del Neri of his duties and appointed Giuseppe Papadopulo, who coached "Lazio" last year, to take over these duties. This season's surprise, Verona's "Chievo" team, demolished the "Reggina" team 4-0 at home. As usual, the team's success was largely contributed by Sergio Pellissier, who has been playing well this season. In the last minutes of the match, Rome's "Lazio" team secured a victory, defeating the underdog "Treviso" team 1-0 away. Despite the evenly matched game where "Treviso" often dominated, "Lazio" earned three points. Just four minutes before the end of the match, Tommaso Rocchi headed in the winning goal after a pass from Massimo Oddo. A similar scenario occurred in the match between "Messina" and "Cagliari". Playing at home, the "Messina" team secured a victory with a goal scored by Arturo Di Napoli in the 88th minute. This was only the second home win for "Messina" this season. The "Parma" team secured their first away victory of the season, defeating the crisis-stricken "Empoli" team 2-1. It is worth mentioning that both goals for the visitors were scored by former "Empoli" players. In the last round of matches on Sunday evening, Milan's "Inter" secured their tenth victory in fourteen matches, defeating "Lecce" 2-0 away, with new coach Roberto Rizzo leading the team in this match. "Inter" had not won against the "Lecce" team on their own pitch since March 2002. 22nd round statistics: 1 - 1 13` [1 - 0] Andriy Shevchenko (penalty) 36` [1 - 1] Andrea Gasbarroni 1 - 3 7` [0 - 1] David Trezeguet 13` [0 - 2] David Trezeguet 18` [0 - 3] David Trezeguet 33` [1 - 3] Marco Ferrante 3 - 0 31` [1 - 0] Francesco Totti 41` [2 - 0] Francesco Totti (penalty) 62` [3 - 0] Rodrigo Taddei 0 - 0 23` Roberto Baronio sent off (Udinese) 1 - 3 29` [0 - 1] Erjon Bogdani 57` [0 - 2] Erjon Bogdani 67` [0 - 3] Erjon Bogdani 69` [1 - 3] Denis Godeas 4 - 0 47` [1 - 0] Amauri 74` [2 - 0] Sergio Pellissier 88` [3 - 0] Amauri (penalty) 90` [4 - 0] Sergio Pellissier 0 - 1 86` [0 - 1] Tommaso Rocchi 1 - 0 88` [0 - 1] Arturo Di Napoli 1 - 2 44` [0 - 1] Marco Marchionni 59` [1 - 1] Francesco Tavano (penalty) 79` [1 - 2] Mark Bresciano 0 - 2 72` [0 - 1] Luis Figo 90` [0 - 2] Dejan Stankovic 76` Cristian Ledesma sent off (Lecce) Top scorers: 1. Luca Toni ("Fiorentina") - 21; 2. David Trezeguet ("Juventus") - 18; 3. Francesco Totti ("Roma") - 13; 4-6. Alberto Gilardino ("Milan") - 12; Adriano ("Inter") - 12; Andriy Shevchenko ("Milan") - 12; 7-8. Cristiano Lucarelli ("Livorno") - 11; Francesco Tavano ("Empoli") - 11; 9-10. David Suazo ("Cagliari") - 10; Enrico Chiesa ("Siena") - 10. Standings:
