Palermo thwarted by Reggina, Atalanta go fourth

Palermo's pursuit of second place suffered a setback after a 0-0 draw at Reggina in Serie A last night.

The Sicilian side are third on 39 points, 12 behind leaders Inter and three adrift of Roma.

Inter host Fiorentina today while Roma travel to Livorno.

Third from bottom Reggina, handed an 11-point penalty after a match-fixing scandal in the close season, kept Palermo quiet for most of the game.

The nearest the visitors came to scoring was in the 66th minute when a corner dropped kindly for defender Christian Zaccardo, who blasted a shot narrowly over the bar.

Atalanta climbed to fourth on 27 points after two late goals earned a 3-1 win at bottom club Ascoli.

The match seemed poised for a draw after Riccardo Zampagna's goal for Atalanta was cancelled out by home striker Michele Paolucci.

But Brazilian defender Adriano, who provided the cross for Zampagna's goal, headed Atalanta back into the lead on 85 minutes before Cristiano Doni grabbed the third goal two minutes later.

In Serie B, captain Alessandro Del Piero marked his 500th game for Juventus by inspiring a 4-2 home victory over Bari yesterday which put the Turin club back on top.

The 32-year-old striker scored one goal and set up two more as Juve took their points tally to 38 from 20 matches, two ahead of Napoli who drew 1-1 at Lecce.

Genoa lie third on 35 points after beating Mantova 2-1 on Friday.

Juve's defence was caught napping less than 60 seconds into the game and Bari striker Vincenzo Santoruvo was in plenty of space as he stroked the ball past keeper Antonio Mirante, standing in for the injured Gianluigi Buffon.

Del Piero created the equaliser when he dribbled into the area and fired a low ball across the face of the goal for David Trezeguet to turn in.

Pavel Nedved, back after a five-match ban, put Juve ahead on the stroke of half-time with an angled shot.

Del Piero got on the scoresheet midway through the second half when he brought down a long pass by Marco Marchionni before dispatching a clinical shot past keeper Jean-Francois Gillet.

It was his 204th goal since making his Juve debut in September 1993.

Del Piero then provided a through ball for Nedved to grab his second of the game before Carlo Gervasoni headed in a corner for Bari a minute from the end.

Inter defender Marco Materazzi has appealed to the team's fans to come to the San Siro stadium to help them beat Fiorentina today. Despite a record-breaking run of 12 successive Serie A wins, Inter have not attracted more than 50,000 spectators for a game this season.