MILAN — Juventus extended its lead over title challenger Inter Milan to seven points thanks to a 3-0 rout of Atalanta Sunday as AC Milan continued its Serie A resurgence with a 4-1 defeat of Pescara. Champion Juve held a four-point lead going into its 17th match of the campaign but took full advantage of the Nerazzurri's 1-0 defeat away to Lazio Saturday to pull clear of the pack. Montenegrin striker Mirko Vucinic opened the scoring with barely 90 seconds on the clock after beating Atalanta's offside trap to run in from the left and place his shot beyond reach of Andrea Consigli at the far post. Midfield veteran Andrea Pirlo doubled Juve's lead on the quarter-hour with a sublime, curling freekick which dipped into the visitors' net despite a desperate attempt by Consigli to parry. Claudio Marchisio made it three for Juve with a low drive from the edge of the area after latching on to Sebastian Giovinco's squared pass. Atalanta was reduced to 10 men before the half hour when Thomas Manfredini was red carded for a second bookable offense after a rash challenge on defender Giorgio Chiellini. The Bergamo side came back into the game in the second half but failed to find a way past the Juve defense. With only one more league game before the festive break, the Bianconeri lead Inter by seven points, while third-placed Napoli can move up to second if it beats Bologna at home in Sunday's late match. Milan's resurgence, following a disastrous start to the season, continued as the Rossoneri put four goals past outclassed league newboys Pescara. It took less than a minute for Milan to go in front thanks to Alberto Nocerino. Midfielder Robinho sidestepped a challenge to square for Riccardo Montolivo on the edge of the area and the midfielder fed Stephan El Shaarawy to his right. With the path to goal blocked by onrushing keeper Mattia Perin, El Shaarawy squared for Nocerino who had the simplest of tap-ins. Milan doubled its lead minutes after the restart when Pescara striker Elvis Abbruscato headed home Robinho's cross following a short corner with El Shaarawy. Pescara was given hope when Christian Terlizzi rose to meet a free kick from the right to beat Marco Amelia in the Milan goal just before the hour. But a dominant Milan was far from finished. In the closing 10 minutes El Shaarawy saw a goalbound shot blocked by Terlizzi, only for Milan to score moments later when Brazilian striker Jonathas headed El Shaarawy's corner past Perin. El Shaarawy was not to be denied, and powered down the left to slot home Giampaolo Pazzini's low cross for his league-topping 14th goal of the season. Earlier, Fiorentina's 4-1 rout of Siena, complete with a brace from former Italy striker Luca Toni, saw La Viola leapfrog Roma into fifth place. Roma had hoped to restore order on its away trip to Chievo, a match played in heavy fog, but suffered a 1-0 defeat following a late goal by Chievo striker Sergio Pellissier. Elsewhere, an on-form Catania took a precious 3-1 home win over Sampdoria and Parma was in similar form with a 4-1 home win over Cagliari thanks in part to a brace from Algerian striker Ishak Belfodil. On Saturday, Lazio continued its impressive with a 1-0 win over Inter Milan. Elsewhere, a late Antonio Di Natale strike helped 10-man Udinese snatch a 1-1 draw at home to relegation-threatened Palermo, which was denied a penalty. Dortmund reclaims third spot Defending champion Borussia Dortmund moved back up to third in the Bundesliga Sunday with a 3-1 win at struggler Hoffenheim, while neighbor Schalke 04 sacked coach Huub Stevens. Goals by Mario Goetze, Kevin Grosskreutz and Robert Lewandowski gave Dortmund three points, but Borussia remains 12 points behind leader Bayern Munich, which drew 1-1 with Moenchengladbach Friday. Earlier, Schalke announced it had parted company with Dutch coach Stevens after Saturday's 3-1 home defeat to Freiburg left the Royal Blues with two points from its last six league games. Former VfB Stuttgart coach Jens Keller will take over for the rest of the season with his side seventh in the league having been second at the end of November. Schalke, Dortmund and Bayern will all discover their Champions League opponents Thursday when the last 16 draw is made. On Saturday, second-placed Leverkusen beat Hamburg 3-0 to trim Bayern's lead at the top to nine points with striker Stefan Kiessling and current Germany forward Andre Schuerrle both netting. — Agencies
