36th round: "Juventus" maintained the advantage © EuroFootball.com

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n Sunday, all 36th round matches took place in the Italian championship. Both contenders to win the championship, "Juventus" and "Milan", secured victories. The "Fiorentina" team missed the opportunity to climb to fourth place by stumbling against "Roma". It was also revealed that the third club, not playing in the league next year, will be "Messina".

The championship leader "Juventus" took care of business in the away match against "Siena" in the first eight minutes of the game - that's all the time the club's players needed to score three goals and crush any hopes of suspense in this matchup. The match ended with a score of 3-0.

In the third minute of the match, Frenchman Patrick Vieira sent a cross from Pavel Nedved into the goal during a corner kick. Just three minutes later, "Juventus" celebrated their second goal when David Trezeguet sent the ball into the net during a counterattack. And two minutes later, the visitors launched another counterattack, finished by Adrian Mutu's accurate strike into the goal. An incredible own goal in extra time by "Inter" defender Marco Materazzi gifted a 1-0 victory to their opponents "Empoli". It seemed the match would end in a draw, but in the 91st minute, the Italian managed to lob the ball over his own team's goalkeeper, allowing "Empoli" to secure their survival in the top Italian league.

In Verona, one of the toughest matches of the season took place, with the local team "Chievo" playing a 4-4 thriller with the "Roma" team.

In the 6th minute, "Roma" took the lead with a goal from Daniele De Rossi, but just two minutes later the score was level - "Chievo" player Amauri found the net. However, within the next fifteen minutes, "Roma" managed to score two more goals and looked like the luck was turning in favor of the capital team.

However, before halftime, "Chievo" managed to narrow the gap, and in the second half, they leveled the score and even took the lead after Sergio Pellissier converted a penalty. But the visitors recovered from this shock, and just two minutes later Olivier Dacourt scored the equalizer. "Lazio" secured a crucial 1-0 victory at home against the "Lecce" team. These three points guaranteed a place in the next year's UEFA Cup for the Rome team since "Palermo" and "Livorno" lost all hope of catching up with this team. The victory was brought by Tommaso Rocchi's goal in the 57th minute.

In Genoa, the local "Sampdoria" played a 1-1 draw with "Udinese". In the 57th minute, the visitors took the lead with a long-range shot from Antonio Di Natale, but just four minutes later, "Sampdoria" striker Francesco Flachi managed to equalize. Both teams missed several great chances, showing why they occupy such low positions in the league table this season. In a match between two teams that played in the "Serie B" last year, with very different seasons unfolding for them, "Treviso" played a 2-2 draw with "Ascoli" at home. The Treviso club has not won a single game in 2006 and occupies the last place in the table, while "Ascoli" has successfully established itself among the mid-table teams.

Results of the 36th round:

0 - 3 " " 3` [0 - 1] Patrick Vieira 6` [0 - 2] David Trezeguet 8` [0 - 3] Adrian Mutu

2 - 0 28` [1 - 0] Filippo Inzaghi 66` [2 - 0] Filippo Inzaghi

1 - 0 90` [1 - 0] Marco Materazzi (own goal)

4 - 4 6` [0 - 1] Daniele De Rossi 8` [1 - 1] Amauri 14` [1 - 2] Daniele De Rossi 25` [1 - 3] Rodrigo Taddei 36` [2 - 3] Amauri 49` [3 - 3] Luciano 61` [4 - 3] Sergio Pellissier (penalty) 62` [4 - 4] Olivier Dacourt

1 - 0 52` [1 - 0] David Di Michele

1 - 0 56` [1 - 0] Tommaso Rocchi

82` Babu ("Lecce") sent off

1 - 1 57` [0 - 1] Antonio Di Natale 61` [1 - 1] Francesco Flachi

3 - 1 11` [1 - 0] Andrea Capone 31` [2 - 0] David Suazo (penalty) 63` [3 - 0] Mauro Esposito 74` [3 - 1] Bernardo Corradi

3 - 0 51` [1 - 0] Francesco Cozzi 58` [2 - 0] Nicola Amoruso 76` [3 - 0] Rolando Bianchi

61` Alessandro Parisi ("Messina") sent off

2 - 2 12` [0 - 1] Pasquale Foggia 14` [1 - 1] Reginaldo 28` [2 - 1] Marco Borriello 81` [2 - 2] Pasquale Foggia

Top scorers of the championship: 1. Luca Toni ("Fiorentina") - 28; 2. David Trezeguet ("Juventus") - 22; 3. David Suazo ("Cagliari") - 21; 4-5. Andriy Shevchenko ("Milan") - 19; Cristiano Lucarelli ("Livorno") - 19; 6. Francesco Tavano ("Empoli") - 18; 7. Alberto Gilardino ("Milan") - 16; 8. Francesco Totti ("Roma") - 15; 9. Tommaso Rocchi ("Lazio") - 14.

League Table: