Italian Football: Van Basten comes back to ignite Milan's title drive

MARCO VAN BASTEN resumed normal service when he returned in triumph for Milan yesterday, scoring the second goal in their 3-1 win over Ancona which keeps the Italian champions four points clear at the top of Serie A.

Van Basten, playing his first full match for nearly five months after an ankle operation, headed home in the 38th minute. Milan, who have seen their 11-point lead whittled away in recent weeks, went ahead through Van Basten's Dutch colleague, Frank Rijkaard.

Roberto Baggio, who scored twice for Juventus in their midweek Uefa Cup final first leg 4-2 win over Borussia Dortmund, scored a hat-trick in the 4-2 victory, over Foggia. The other goal came from Gianluca Vialli, whose recent famine has prompted rumours of a return to Sampdoria.

The win keeps Juventus in third place behind Internazionale, who beat a Lazio team minus the injured Paul Gascoigne, 2-0. Ruben Sosa, the Uruguayan international, struck after two minutes and then set up the second for Salvatore Schillaci. In a pulsating match at Roma, the Belgian midfielder Enzo Scifo scored two minutes from the end to give Torino a 5-4 win.

At the bottom of the table Brescia beat Atalanta 2-0, but the game was marred by crowd violence and held up at the start of the second half as a hail of missiles rained on to the pitch.

ITALIAN LEAGUE: Ancona 1 (Vecchiola 60) Milan 3 (Rijkaard 20, Van Basten 38, Sogliano og 48); Brescia 2 (Raducioiu 73, 87) Atalanta 0; Cagliari 1 (Bisoli 45) Udinese 1 (Branca 65); Internazionale 2 (Sosa 2, Schillaci 81) Lazio 0; Juventus 4 (Baggio 14, 45, 80, Vialli 28) Foggia 2 (Sciacca pen 55, Torricelli og 73); Napoli 2 (Careca 11, Ferrara 38) Genoa 2 (Caricola 41, Padovano pen 57); Roma 4 (Carnevale 24, Muzzi 29, Hassler pen 68, Comi 87) Torino 5 (Aguilera 16, 45, 59, Silenzi 48, Scifo 88); Sampdoria 1 (Mancini 9) Pescara 1 (Allegri 37). Saturday: Fiorentina 1 (Di Mauro 88) Parma 1 (Melli 42).

----------------------------------------------------------------- P W D L F A Pts ----------------------------------------------------------------- Milan 30 18 10 2 61 28 46 Internazionale 30 16 10 4 54 32 42 Juventus 30 14 8 8 52 38 36 Parma 30 14 7 9 41 31 35 Lazio 30 11 12 7 55 42 34 Sampdoria 30 12 10 8 46 41 34 Torino 30 9 15 6 36 28 33 Cagliari 30 12 7 11 34 31 31 Atalanta 30 12 7 11 35 39 31 Napoli 30 10 10 10 44 41 30 Roma 30 8 13 9 37 34 29 Foggia 30 9 10 11 34 47 28 Fiorentina 30 7 12 11 43 49 26 Genoa 30 6 14 10 35 50 26 Udinese 30 9 7 14 35 43 25 Brescia 30 7 10 13 28 40 24 Ancona 30 5 7 18 34 61 17 Pescara 30 4 5 21 36 65 13 -----------------------------------------------------------------