Resurgent Ronaldinho scored a hat-trick to help AC Milan hammer 10-man Siena 4-0 to close the gap on Serie A leaders Inter Milan to six points. Ronaldinho converted a 12th- minute penalty, after the Siena keeper Gianluca Curci had been sent off, and Marco Borriello hit his seventh goal of the season before the Brazilian struck two more goals after the break to seal Milan's win. The former World Player of the Year has now scored six times in three games since the Italian season's winter break and is hitting form at just the right time after a poor first season in Milan. The title race is now very much on given that Inter only drew 2-2 at Bari on Saturday, Milan have a game in hand and the top two meet in the city derby next weekend.
Injury-hit Juventus are virtually out of the running though after a 1-0 defeat at Chievo, their fifth loss in seven games in all competitions. Roma moved above Juve into third after on-loan striker Luca Toni grabbed his first two goals for the club from close range in a 3-0 home win over Genoa. The Inter manager, Jose Mourinho, criticised the refereeing performance of Roberto Rosetti following his side's draw away at Bari. Mourinho's side did well to recover from a deficit of two goals after Rosetti awarded Bari a penalty which the Portugese coach thought was a dubious decision.
"I was not happy to go two goals behind," he said. "I feel there are many question marks hanging over the penalty awarded against [Walter] Samuel for a handball." The decision which saw a penalty awarded in favour of the visitors also came under scrutiny with Mourinho adding: "I am also still trying to work out why [Leonardo] Bonucci wasn't shown red for the foul on [Goran] Pandev as he was clearly in a goal scoring opportunity."
* With agencies