PARIS. Apr 3: Juventus look almost guaranteed lo take their 23rd Italian title after a weekend

that saw them surge nine points clear al the top of the Serie A with nine games lo play, reports Reuter.

Meanwhile in France. Nantes Stretched, their season's uiilx'aten record to 31 matches by sharing a bad-tem-pered I -1 home draw against Lens to stay ten points clear in the title race.

And Spanish legends Real Madrid remain six points clear of rivals Deportivo anil Barcelona. despite a dropped point alter a I -1 draw .u modest Compostella.

Juventus' impressive 2-0 away win al AC Milan on Saturday. coupled with Parma s 1-0 defeat at fourth-placed Roma, all but confirm the Turin club's first title since 1986.

Veteran striker Gianluca Vialll. snubbed by Italy's selectors. sealed Juventus' win with seven minutes to go. Fabrizio Ravanelli. who did play for the national side in last week's wins over Estonia and the Ukraine, netted the opener Just before the break.

AC Milan ended with ten men when Croatia's Zvonimir Boban was shown the red card shortly after Vialli's goal.

The Juventus result will delight French side Paris Saint

Germain who play Al’ Milan in the European Champions' League semifinal in Paris in midweek.

Parma, meanwhile, saw their diminishing league hopes all but wiped out by Abel Balbo with a 22nd minute goal.

Sunday's matches seemed a mere afterthought but sixth-placed Fiorentina found their touch with four goals In the 4-0 win over visiting Brescia.

The prolific Argentinian Gabriel Omar Batistuta was yet again among Ihe goals with a 12lh minuie strike from close range — his 20th of the season — which allowed his side to edge closer to Lazio after its 0-0 stalemate al Cremonese.

Inter Milan stayed In seventh. doing Just enough al Reggiana to win 1-0 thanks to Guiseppe Bergomi's 69lh minute goal while Torino, one place below, cracked three goals past Cagliari in a 3-2 thriller. Ghanaian Abedi Pele grabbing Iwo goals In three minutes in the second half.

Nantes had three players sent off against Lens, fourth in the table, in shameful scenes Sunday.

Lens also had one man dismissed In the final minutes after snatching a 1-1 draw at the death.

Nantes striker Japhet N'Doram and Lens' Frederic Dehu were shown the red card in the 86th minute after a brawl and then defender

Christian Karembeu appeared to slap Eric Sikora on the head after his 90lh minute equaliser before rowing with the referee.

Fellow French international Reynaid Pedros got his marching ordersjtwo minutes into injury time after prolonging the argument.

Nantes, who opened the scoring on the stroke of half time through Eddy Capron, also had five men booked, Including Karembeu and N'Doram, while Herve Arsene of Lens was shown a yellow card as well.

The result, in front of 43.000 fans, left the side with a record of 18 wins and 13 draws, giving them 67 points, ten ahead of Lyon and 13 clear of Paris Saint Germain.

Lyon drew 1 -1 with Rennes on Saturday, while the Parisians overcame Cannes 2-1 on Friday.

Jocelyn Gourvennec put Rennes clear after just seven minutes but Eric Roy equalised for the visitors midway through the second half.

Paris Saint Germain's two goals in the first half an hour were enough for victory, their goals coming from Jose Cobos and David Ginola. Charvet scored a consolation goal for Cannes with seven minutes left to play.

In other matches Auxerre's disappointing late season run continued when they were beaten 2-1 by Martigues.

An own-goal after eight minutes by Frack Burnier gave Bordeaux victory at Bastia, a Laurent Blanc penalty after 73 minutes ended Monaco's hopes at St Etienne, and Montpellier scored their seventh win from 31 games by beating visiting Caen 3-2.

Real Madrid, looking ragged and urflmpressive. nevertheless took the lead against Compostella through Raul five minutes before half-time, but the home side were back on level terms six minutes after the interval thanks to a goal by Fabiano.

Barcelona were left kicking themselves at Tenerife where they let slip a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 despite the fact that the home side were down to ten men for 70 minutes after Argentina goalkeeper Ojeda was given his marching orders for a foul on Beriguistain.

Manager Johan Cruyff had refused to call up his Bulgarian striker Hristo Stoichkov for the match, although the forward trained with the team on Friday after competing for Bulgaria in the European Championship qualifier in midweek.

Cruyff said he would not select Stoichkov for a fortnight because of the east European player's criticisms of his teammates and of Cruyff,

In Sunday's match Amor put Barcelona clear on the hour, but Ramis (75) and Llorente (86) gave Compostella victory..