Roma close in on leaders Inter

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ROME, Feb 21, 2010 (AFP) - AS Roma closed the gap to leaders Inter Milan at the top of Serie A to just five points with a narrow 1-0 win over Catania at the Stadio Olimpico in the capital on Sunday.

Montenegro forward Mirko Vucinic scored the only goal of the game as Roma took their unbeaten run in the league to 15 matches with their seventh Serie A win in a row.

It means Roma have now shaved six points off Inter's lead over the last three matches with the champions having drawn three in a row, including Saturday's 0-0 stalemate at home to Sampdoria, in which Jose Mourinho's team were reduced to nine men after just 38 minutes following the dismisals of centre-backs Walter Samuel and Ivan Cordoba.

Roma had three wins, two draws and five defeats in their first 10 games of the season but have since taken 39 from a possible 45 points.

Even so, coach Claudio Ranieri dismissed title talk, saying the race was not back on.

"No, no it's not. We're doing great things at the moment but we're still on the big curve and then we'll see how things pan out when we enter the final straight," he said.

"Now our minds return to the (Europa League second leg) where we want to progress and do well, also to improve Italy's ranking coefficient.

"We have many irons in the fire and we don't want to burn any of them."

Despite their fine run, though, they had been stuttering in recent weeks and lost their 20-match unbeaten run in all competitions on Thursday when two late goals by Panathinaikos gave the Greeks a 3-2 win in Athens in the Europa League.

But they settled this affair in the 18th minute as Ciro Capuano lost Vucinic at a corner, allowing the striker to prod home unmolested from six yards out.

Juventus moved up to fourth and back into a Champions League qualification place after their third win in a row, including Thursday's 2-1 Europa League triumph away to Ajax, with a 2-1 success at Bologna.

They were off to a flying start as Diego surged forward on four minutes, hitting a shot from the edge of the area that goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano couldn't hold and although he also stopped Amauri's follow-up, Diego then swept home the next rebound.

Bologna came within a whisker of equalising when Adailton hit the woodwork with a free-kick but five minutes into the second period they deservedly equalised.

However, it took a defensive horror show from Juve as Federico Casarini's inswinging cross was missed by everyone and came back off the post where the unmarked Antonio Busce bundled home.

The hosts then enjoyed their best spell of the game and should have gone in front following a mistake by Juve centre-back Giorgio Chiellini but substitute forward Henry Gimenez hit the post after taking the ball around goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who then smothered Gimenez's follow-up.

Completely against the run of play, Juve went straight up the other end and Alessandro Del Piero slipped in substitute Antonio Candreva to score his first goal for the club.

Juve then had a Felipe Melo goal ruled out for an offside against Alessandro Del Piero, who although he never touched the ball was clearly interfering with play.

Napoli lost fourth place after a dull 0-0 draw at rock-bottom Siena, their third goalless stalemate in their last four matches, with the other being a 3-1 defeat.

They sit fifth now just ahead of Palermo, 3-1 winners against Lazio, and Sampdoria on goal difference while Genoa and Cagliari are just two points further back.