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Del Piero's 250th goal helps Old Lady move up

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-01 09:41

ROME: Veteran forward Alessandro Del Piero bagged his 250th Juventus goal as the Turin giants climbed up to second in the Serie A table with a 4-0 victory over Reggina in snowy Turin on Saturday.

It was a sixth win in seven league games for Juve with 34-year-old Del Piero's landmark goal coming from the penalty spot following strikes from Mauro Camoranesi, Amauri and Giorgio Chiellini.

The victory moved Juventus above AC Milan on goal difference, just three points behind leaders and champions Inter Milan but both Milanese giants were due to play on Sunday.

Juve coach Claudio Ranieri was coy on challenging for the title despite having banished last week's 1-0 defeat at Inter from memory.

"It wasn't easy, they pressed a lot. They have a lot of ability, they're a very good group," he said of woeful Reggina.

"They play close together and are very dangerous on the counter-attack but the important thing was to upset their balance and we did that.

"Inter should win the title while we should improve on last season's finish (third). We are more cohesive and have a year of work behind us and the new players have slipped well into the team."

The heavy defeat was the fifth time in eight away matches this season that Reggina have lost by at least three goals and leaves them with by far the worst defensive record of the 20-team division.

Center-back Chiellini and the evergreen Del Piero had both gone close for the hosts before Camoranesi gave them the lead on 28 minutes.

Del Piero sent Czech veteran Pavel Nedved free down the inside left channel and he drew goalkeeper Andrea Campagnolo before pulling the ball back for the Argentine-born Italy midfielder to slot home.

Reggina almost responded immediately as defender Santos flicked a Franco Brienza free-kick onto the bar with Alex Manninger a helpless spectator in the Juve goal.

AFP