Milan stay in Serie A hunt with Catania win

AC Milan kept their slim title hopes alive with a comfortable 2-0 victory at Catania on Sunday courtesy of goals from Filippo Inzaghi and Kaka.

Veteran Inzaghi’s strike took his record to 11 goals in his last eight matches while Kaka’s strike was his 15th of the season in Serie A and followed up a pair of penalties last weekend against Palermo.

The victory reduced Inter Milan’s lead at the top of Serie A to seven points but, with just four matches left, second-placed Milan would need their city rivals to suffer a spectacular collapse to win a first scudetto since 2004.

Third-placed Juventus’s hopes all but mathematically ended as substitute Jose Ignacio Castillo scored an equaliser deep into injury time for relegation-threatened Lecce in a 2-2 draw in Turin.

In Sicily it was plain-sailing for Milan who opened the scoring on 27 minutes after former world player of the year Kaka burst into the area and then teed up Inzaghi for a typical poacher’s finish.

Milan then sealed the match seven minutes into the second period as Kaka swept home the loose ball after Lecce goalkeeper Tomas Kosicky pushed out David Beckham’s header.

It was Milan’s fifth win in a row and also took their tally to 21 goals in their last eight matches.

Juve’s miserable recent form continued as they went a fifth league match without a victory due to Castillo’s late equaliser.

Things started badly for Claudio Ranieri’s men when Ivory Coast forward Axel Konan beat the hosts’ offside trap on 11 minutes to slot easily past Gianluigi Buffon in goal.

However, Juve hit back after the break as veteran Czech midfielder Pavel Nedved scored a brace of left foot strikes to seemingly set the Old Lady of Turin on course for the three points.

But Castillo’s late header from a Simone Tiribocchi cross stunned the Turin giants and also boosted Lecce’s survival hopes.

They remain second bottom but are now only two points from safety.

Fiorentina maintained their grip on fourth place and the final Champions League qualifying position as Peruvian full-back Juan Manuel Vargas scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win over Torino.

La Viola now lead fifth-placed Genoa, who host city rivals Sampdoria in Sunday’s late game, by four points.

AS Roma fell out of the running for a top four finish as they were held 0-0 at home to Chievo, leaving them eight points behind Fiorentina with just 12 more points up for grabs.