Fiorentina lose their way in title race

Overseas football

Fiorentina's 1-1 draw with bottom club Bari yesterday has probably ended their chances of winning Serie A. The draw left second-placed Fiorentina well adrift of the leaders, Milan.

Bari's Swedish striker, Kennet Andersson, was both hero and villain for his side. His goal put Bari ahead 1-0 in the 40th minute, but his foul on the Fiorentina midfielder Anselmo Robbiati in the penalty area with four minutes left cost his team the chance to take all three points. Francesco Baiano converted from the spot to equalise for Fiorentina.

Parma, despite their midweek first-leg win over Paris St-Germain in the Cup-Winners' Cup, saw their title hopes dashed in a 2-1 defeat by Piacenza. Parma dropped to fourth, two points behind defending champions Juventus, who overcame a two-goal deficit to beat Lazio 4-2.

Six goals in 30 minutes saw Ajax crush the hapless Twente Enschede, and kept them in touch with league leaders PSV Eindhoven. Ajax have a game in hand and are one point behind PSV.

Borussia Dortmund moved to the top of the Bundesliga with a 1-0 win over St Pauli on Saturday, thanks to a 63rd-minute header by Michael Zorc. It was a welcome victory for Dortmund, the German champions, who had been widely criticised following their 2-0 defeat by Ajax on Wednesday in their European Cup quarter-final first leg.

The win moved Dortmund one point ahead of Nottingham Forest's midweek Uefa Cup opponents, Bayern Munich, who were beaten 3-1 by Freiburg.

Dutch striker Harry Decheiver scored in the 43rd and 51st minutes for Freiburg, who took control after Jurgen Klinsmann scored a 15th-minute penalty to put Munich in the lead.

In Spain, Barcelona saw their faint title hopes diminish on Saturday with a 4-1 defeat at Valencia as the league's top scorer, Pedrag Mijatovic, found the net twice for Valencia.