MILAN, 25 October 2004 — Lecce’s excellent start to the Serie A season continued yesterday with a 4-1 win at Messina while Lazio stumbled to a 3-1 defeat at Parma.
Promoted Messina had not lost at home for more than a year but two goals from Serbian striker Sasa Bjelanovic gave Lecce an impressive win that moves them above AC Milan into second place, at least until the Milan derby later.
An acrobatic volley from Marco Marchionni set Parma on their way to their first win of the season with Australian Mark Bresciano and Alberto Gilardino also on target against Lazio.
Roma had to come back from a goal down to earn a 1-1 draw at home to Palermo - a Francesco Totti penalty canceling out Fabio Grosso’s opener for the Sicilians.
Leaders Juventus won 3-0 at Siena on Saturday and have a five point lead over Lecce.
Messina have been the success story of the season so far but now it is Zdenek Zeman’s Lecce who will be making the big clubs sit up and take notice.
Serbia and Montenegro striker Mirko Vucinic put them on their way in the fifth minute before his compatriot Bjelanovic fired home a smart first time shot on the turn to make it 2-0.
Arturo Di Napoli pulled one back for Messina in the 43rd minute but within a minute Bjelanovic had restored the two-goal cushion for the visitors with a header from a corner.
Former Chelsea midfielder Samuele Dalla Bona completed the rout in the 88th minute.
Marchionni’s volleyed bicycle kick in the 15th minute set the tone for Parma and Bresciano doubled the advantage with a clinical finish after a defense-splitting pass from Domenico Morfeo.
Tommaso Rocchi headed Lazio back into the game in the 36th minute but Morfeo’s class created Parma’s third for Gilardino who chested down the pass and blasted past Matteo Sereni. It could have been worse for Lazio when Parma were awarded a penalty but Sereni did well to save Morfeo’s spot-kick.
Celtic Hit Back With Easy League Win
In Glasgow, leaders Celtic recovered from their Champions League defeat at Shakhtar Donetsk to overwhelm Livingston 4-2 yesterday and maintain their unbeaten record in the Scottish Premier League.
Stilian Petrov’s second-minute opener was followed by goals from Henri Camara (14), John Hartson (18) and Chris Sutton (32) as Celtic ran the home side ragged.
Burton O’Brien netted in the 44th and 52nd minutes as Livingston fought back impressively but Celtic held on despite losing three players to injury. Celtic lead the SPL standings with 28 points from 10 games. Rangers would stay five points behind their Glasgow rivals if they beat Dundee United at Ibrox later.
Stuttgart Waste Chance to Reclaim Top Spot
In Berlin, VfB Stuttgart squandered a chance to reclaim top spot in the Bundesliga yesterday, losing their first match of the season to lowly SC Freiburg 2-0.
Georgia striker Alexandre Iashvili beat Stuttgart’s Timo Hildebrand in the 35th minute, the first goal the Germany reserve yielded in 536 minutes, and Soumaila Coulibaly sealed the southwestern derby in stoppage time.
The defeat left Stuttgart in second place with 20 points from nine matches, one point behind surprise leaders VfL Wolfsburg who beat VfL Bochum 3-0 on Saturday.
It was only the second victory of the season for Freiburg, lifting them from 16th place to 12th.
In yesterday’s other match, Schalke 04 beat FSV Mainz 2-1.
