Soccer: AS Roma relentless at the top of Serie A

AS Roma moved two points clear at the top of the Italian Serie A after a second-half double from Argentine striker Gabriel Batistuta helped them to a convicing 4-1 win at Verona.

Udinese move into second place after 3-0 win over Reggina, with two goals from their in-form Argentine Roberto Sosa.

Juventus were held to a goal-less draw at lowly Brescia, while unbeaten Atalanta also had to settle for a 0-0 draw at lowly Napoli.

Roma gave another display of their awesome firepower as they brushed aside Verona for their sixth win in seven games. It was Roma's second successive four-goal haul on the road and Batistuta again showed he remains the most deadly marksman in Serie A.

Verona took the lead with a Massimo Oddo penalty in the fourth minute. But Roma were swiftly on level terms through French midfielder Vincent Candela.

Francesco Totti put Roma ahead on the stroke of halftime with a simple tap-in and after the break Batistuta increased the advantage with a rocketing, 25m free-kick in the 58th minute and then claimed his eighth goal in six starts this season as he tapped in a low cross.

Juventus also had plenty of those qualities at Brescia but despite their array of attacking stars they were unable to find a way past Brescia and their inspired goalkeeper.

Czech Pavel Srnicek, who joined Brescia from Sheffield Wednesday in the close-season on a free transfer, pulled off a string of fine saves to give his side a precious point they will not have counted on.

After keeping out early efforts from Zinedine Zidane and Alessandro Del Piero, Srnicek was twice at full stretch to foil Filippo Inzaghi.

Edgar Davids beat the Czech with a thundering drive in the 61st minute only to see his shot strike the post and then in the final seconds Srnicek again kept out Zidane and saved a last-gasp header from substitute Darko Kovacevic.

Stefano Fiore again showed the qualities that have made him a fixture in the Italy midfield as he inspired Udinese to a 3-0 win over Reggina.

He scored one from the penalty spot and set up others for Sosa.

Fiorentina trailed 1-2 against Vicenza but a second goal from Nuno Gomes brought them level and Daniel Adani grabbed the winner.

Lazio and AC Milan drew 1-1 while Inter Milan beat Perugia 2-1.

In France, Girondins Bordeaux cruised to a 3-0 win over Stade Rennes in their French first-division match and took over as the new leaders.

Prolific Portuguese striker Pedro Pauleta scored two goals as Bordeaux moved onto 29 points from 16 matches. Sedan are second on 28 points with Lille on 26 and PSG and En Avant Guingamp on 25.

Defender Alain Roche put Bordeaux ahead after just four minutes and Pauleta then scored twice in the second half to take his tally to nine goals in all competitions this season.

Elie Baup's Uefa Cup contenders have now won five and drawn one of their last six league matches in an impressive surge up the table. They are the seventh side to lead the French championship this season.

In Germany, two goals from Paulo Rink helped Bayer Leverkusen to beat Hamburg SV 3-1 and celebrate Berti Vogts's first game in charge with a move to the top of the table.

Vogts, who replaces Germany head coach Rudi Voeller, now concentrating on the national team, watched Paulo Rink exploit two mistakes by the Hamburg defence for a precious win.

The Brazilian-born striker opened the scoring after 58 seconds following a blunder from Bernd Hollerbach, then made it 2-1 in the 33rd minute after Hamburg keeper Hans-Joerg Butt had attempted to dribble him in the box.

Hamburg striker Roy Praeger had levelled for the home side in the 10th minute.

Germany striker Oliver Neuville sealed Leverkusen's win in the 73rd minute. Vogts's men moved one point clear of Schalke 04, who crushed overnight leaders Hertha Berlin 4-0 at the Olympic stadium, Hertha's heaviest home defeat in 20 years.

A hat-trick by Danish striker Ebbe Sand helped Schalke to an impressive win which ended Hertha's stay at the top of the league.

Defending champions Bayern Munich dropped two spots down to fourth place, three points behind the new leaders, by losing 2-1 to Eintracht Frankfurt.

Bayern went ahead through Brazilian midfielder Paulo Sergio. Not since 1992 had Bayern lost a home game after leading 1-0.

The visitors equalised with a header from midfielder Alexander Schur in the 38th minute before sealing victory with an effort from just outside the box by Norway striker Jan-Aage Fjortoft in the 63rd.

Feyenoord's Australian defender Brett Emerton scored twice as NEC Nijmegen's 12-match unbeaten Dutch league run was ended with a 1-3 defeat yesterday.

Ajax Amsterdam won 3-0 at NAC Breda, with Finland defender Petri Pasanen scoring twice.

Feyenoord moved up to second in the first division, with 28 points from 11 matches, one point behind leaders Vitesse Arnhem, but the Rotterdam side have two games in hand.

PSV Eindhoven are third with 27 points from 12 games after convincingly beating Heerenveen 4-1.