Trezeguet nets a hat-trick as Juventus march on

By Alberto Cagliano Jan 29, 2006, 22:42 GMT

French forward of Juventus David Trezeguet exults after scoring 0-2, Sunday, 29 January 2006 in \'Cino e Lillo Del Duca\' stadium of Ascoli, during the match Ascoli - Juventus of italian Serie A. Trezeguet scored three goals in the match. EPA/CRISTIANO CHIODI

Milan - Striker David Trezeguet notched an early hat-trick Sunday as Serie A front-runners Juventus crushed Ascoli 3-1 away to keep pursuers Inter Milan eight points adrift.

Juve now have 59 points and hold an eight-point lead over Inter, who struggled to take home a 2-0 win from 10-man minnows Lecce, while Milan crawled on to 47 points Saturday by drawing 1-1 at home to Sampdoria.

The Turin giants were ruthless as usual at Ascoli's Del Duca stadium, closing the game after 18 minutes as Trezeguet netted three times in the opening 18 minutes to end a four-game drought and lift his tally to 18 goals from 22 games.

The French international, now trailing Fiorentina's Serie A top scorer Luca Toni by three goals, opened his account on eight minutes, firing home a diagonal shot, and hit two more in the next 10 minutes off crosses from Mauro Camoranesi and Alessandro Del Piero.

Ascoli, however, lived up to their reputation of never giving up and on 32 minutes managed to pull one back through Marco Ferrante, who slammed a right-footed shot past a stunned Gianluigi Buffon in the Juve goal.

Controlling the remainder of the game was hardly a problem for Juve, as Ascoli suffered their second home defeat of the season. The central Italy side remain relatively safe on 23 points.

'We made some mistakes. It was a rough start, but after (the three goals) we played well,' said Ascoli coach Massimo Silva.

'The main difference between us and the big teams are those incredible periods of 15 minutes or so when they are truly impossible to control.'

In Lecce, Inter had to wait until the 71st minute for Luis Figo's opening goal, which sank the fierce joint-last hosts steered by new coach Roberto Rizzo.

Any hope for a comeback vanished for Lecce on 75 minutes with the controversial dismissal of Argentinian midfielder Cristian Ledesma for a second yellow card, and Dejan Stankovic secured Inter's win in injury time.

Fiorentina retained fourth place on 44 points after a goalless and largely tactical draw at 10-man Udinese, whose playmaker Roberto Baronio was dismissed on 22 minutes for a double-bookable offence.

Roma move up to fifth after a Francesco Totti brace helped them defeat guests Livorno 3-0 for a sixth straight win.

Sixth-placed Chievo Verona thanked Sergio Pellissier and Brazilian Amauri for netting a brace each in a 4-0 thrashing of Reggina, while mid-table Lazio snatched a late 1-0 win at joint-last Treviso.

Lowly Parma stunned hosting Empoli 2-1 for a first away win, Messina prevailed 1-0 over guests Cagliari in a relegation tie, and Siena stunned hosting Palermo 3-1 Saturday.