Juventus and Milan’s thrilling tussle for the Serie A title continued yesterday as they both scraped 1-0 wins against struggling sides.

Juventus maintained their three points lead over Milan as a late goal by Marco Borriello – his first in 17 games for the club – was enough to defeat Cesena and consign the losers to Serie B for next season.

It was just as well Borriello popped up to score as Juve were off colour with Andrea Pirlo missing a ninth-minute penalty.

Milan, too, made heavy weather against relegation-threatened Genoa before Kevin-Prince Boateng pounced to score the winner four minutes from time to ease the nerves of the San Siro home crowd.

Defeat leaves Genoa just one place above the drop.

The title contenders continue their battle on Sunday when Juventus are away to second from bottom Novara while Milan have the tougher task away to mid-table Siena.

A rejuvenated Inter are right back in the running for a place in next season’s Champions League after winning 3-1 at Udinese earlier yesterday thanks to an inspired performance by Wesley Sneijder.

The Dutchman scored twice as the nerazzurri came from behind at the Stadio Friuli to make it three wins and two draws in five games since former youth coach Andrea Stramaccioni replaced Claudio Ranieri in the dugout.

Inter capitalised fully on a slip-up by Lazio, whose grip on third place – the final Champions League qualifying position – was weakened by a 2-1 defeat at struggling Novara in a midday kick-off.

Lazio are a point clear of Napoli, who won 2-0 at Lecce, while Inter and Udinese are a further two points behind in fifth and sixth place respectively.

Meanwhile, Roma lost 2-1 at home to Fiorentina and slip to seventh.

With the sides around them all dropping points, Inter are suddenly looking well-placed to salvage a top-three finish from a season overshadowed by coaching changes and a failure to impress in Europe.

They went behind after just six minutes in Udine when Danilo netted for the home side, but Samir Handanovic allowed a weak Sneijder shot through his grasp for the equaliser in the 10th minute.

Sneijder then put Inter in front after excellent build-up play from Diego Milito and the 3-1 victory was complete before half-time as Argentine midfielder Ricardo Alvarez turned the home defence inside out before slotting home.

Lazio are now three games without a win after substitute Giuseppe Mascara scored a delightful free-kick 11 minutes from time to give Novara a win that is likely to only delay their return to the second tier.

Lazio now face a crunch clash with Udinese on Sunday.

Marek Hamsik and the prolific Edinson Cavani – with his 100th goal in Italian football – netted for Napoli at Lecce, and Walter Mazzarri’s side will now face Roma this weekend in a strong position.

Having lost 4-0 to Juventus on Sunday, Luis Enrique’s Roma looked set for a draw against Fiorentina when Francesco Totti cancelled out Stevan Jovetic’s opener.

However, Andrea Lazzari struck two minutes into injury time to inflict another damaging defeat on the giallorossi.

Elsewhere, Parma won 2-1 at Palermo while Siena and Bologna drew 1-1.

Yesterday’s matches were those rescheduled from April 14, when the entire Italian football league programme was cancelled after Livorno’s Piermario Morosini collapsed and died during a Serie B game at Pescara.

Serie A

Cesena 0
Juventus 1
Borriello 80;

HT: 0-0. Att: 23,343.
Missed penalty: Pirlo (J) 9.

Lecce 0
Napoli 2
Hamsik 5; Cavani 51;

HT: 0-1. Att: 18,100.

Milan 1
Boateng 86;
Genoa 0

HT: 0-0. Att: 48,297.
Red card: Jankovic (G) 73.

Novara 2
Diakite 35 og; Mascara 79;
Lazio 1
Candreva 37;

HT: 1-1. Att: 9,000.

Palermo 1
Hernandez 6;
Parma 2
Chuka 55; Biabiany 70;

HT: 1-0. Att: 14,365.

Roma 1
Totti 71;
Fiorentina 2
Jovetic 2; Lazzari 90;

HT: 0-1. Att: 36,000.
Red card: Osvaldo (R) 90+4.

Siena 1
Destro 52;
Bologna 1
Diamanti 69;

HT: 0-0. Att: 9,011.

Udinese 1
Danilo 6;
Inter 3
Sneijder 10, 28; Alvarez 38;

HT: 1-3. Att: 20,000.


 P W D L F A Pts
Juventus 34 20 14 0 58 18 74
Milan 34 21 8 5 64 27 71
Lazio 34 16 7 11 50 43 55
Napoli 34 14 12 8 60 41 54
Inter 34 15 7 12 50 46 52
Udinese 34 14 10 10 45 35 52
Roma 34 15 5 14 53 48 50
Catania 34 11 13 10 44 46 46
Parma 34 11 11 12 46 51 44
Siena 34 11 10 13 42 36 43
Atalanta 34 12 13 9 38 36 43
Chievo 34 11 10 13 30 41 43
Bologna 34 10 12 12 35 40 42
Fiorentina 34 10 11 13 34 39 41
Palermo 34 11 8 15 47 53 41
Cagliari 34 10 11 13 36 42 41
Genoa 34 9 9 16 44 63 36
Lecce 34 8 11 15 38 51 35
Novara 34 6 10 18 29 57 28
Cesena 34 4 10 20 21 51 22

Next fixtures
Saturday: 18.00 Cagliari vs Chievo; Palermo vs Catania. 20.45 Roma vs Napoli.
Sunday: 12.30 Bologna vs Genoa. 15.00 Atalanta vs Fiorentina; Inter vs Cesena; Lecce vs Parma; Novara vs Juventus; Siena vs Milan. 20.45 Udinese vs Lazio.

Top scorers
24 goals: Ibrahimovic (Milan).
21 goals: Cavani (Napoli).
20 goals: Di Natale (Udinese), Milito (Inter).
16 goals: Palacio (Genoa).
15 goals: Denis (Atalanta).
14 goals: Jovetic (Fiorentina).

Serie B
Torino vs Reggina - 1-0

Standings: Torino 70; Verona 66; Pescara 65; Sassuolo 64; Varese, Padova 56; Sampdoria 55; Brescia 53; Juve Stabia (-4) 52; Reggina 51; Grosseto 46; Bari (-6), Modena 45; Cittadella 44; Crotone (-2) 43; Livorno, Ascoli (-7) 38; Empoli, Vicenza 34; Nocerina, Gubbio 31; AlbinoLeffe 25.

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