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Juventus Draws 0-0 at Udinese to Sit Joint Top
December 22, 2011

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Milan. Juventus and Udinese failed to turn their attacking ambition into goals, playing out a 0-0 draw on Wednesday that left Antonio Conte’s team level with AC Milan at the top of the table.

In one of the few games of the night that didn’t feature plenty of goals, Claudio Marchisio and Fabio Quagliarella had the best of Juventus’s chances while Mauricio Isla came close to breaking the deadlock for Udinese.

In a week where Italian football has been rocked by the latest arrests in a match-fixing investigation, attention turned back to the action on the pitch in a game where the scoreline belied the entertainment value. Although there were few clear-cut scoring opportunities, Udinese and Juventus attacked throughout.

In contrast there were goals galore in the other Serie A matches. Diego Milito broke his goalscoring duck to help Inter Milan beat Lecce 4-1, while Atalanta also won 4-1 against Cesena.

Napoli did even better, humiliating Genoa 6-1. Catania came back from two goals down to draw 3-3 at Parma, Roma beat struggling Bologna 2-0, while Lazio was held to a goalless draw by Chievo.

Juventus remains unbeaten and is now level with Milan on 34 points heading into the winter break. Despite that, goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon insists the team is still not thinking of the Serie A title.

“We’re still unbeaten and that’s a fact we’re proud of, nobody would have ever thought of being in this place,” he said. “What’s our aim for 2012? It’s not the title but we’re aiming to qualify for the Champions League.”

Udinese, which lost its perfect record at the Stadio Friuli, is two points off Juventus and Milan.

A clearly irate Francesco Guidolin blamed Udinese’s lack of goal-scoring chances on the fact that this was his team’s third match in a week.

“This is not football, it’s not human to play three matches in five days and 20 hours, and always in the cold,” the Udinese coach said. “I don’t want to look for excuses, I’m just asking if this is fair.”

Inter’s revival has gathered pace recently but it seemed as if it would be halted when Luis Muriel gave bottom-place Lecce the lead in the 20th minute.

Inter hit the woodwork four times before Giampaolo Pazzini equalized after halftime. Milito put Inter in front four minutes after the interval, before Esteban Cambiasso and Ricardo Alvarez secured the points.

The midweek matches were originally slated to open the season in late August, but were postponed due to a players’ strike.

While the strike was eventually settled, the Italian game continues to be rocked by an ongoing investigation into match-fixing and illegal betting on games.

On Monday, former Atalanta captain Cristiano Doni and 16 other people were arrested as part of an inquiry focused on several Serie A and B matches from the past two seasons.

Associated Press