Juventus won 3-1 at Atalanta yesterday to pull within six points of Serie A leader Inter Milan.

Alessandro Del Piero, Nicola Legrottaglie and Amauri each scored for Juventus.

Inter beat Siena 2-1 on Saturday and leads with 42 points. Juventus has 36 points and AC Milan has 33 following a 5-1 victory over Udinese.

Alexandre Pato and Kaka each scored twice for Milan, and Clarence Seedorf also found the net at the San Siro.

David Beckham, who will play with Milan for two months when the Serie A season resumes in early January following a three-week holiday break, saluted fans at the stadium.

"It was great to see the kids that presented me with the jersey and feel the fans' affection, but tonight I would have liked to play," Beckham said.

Napoli dropped behind Milan with a 1-0 loss at Torino.

Del Piero put Juve in front after 30 minutes by redirecting a cross from Marco Marchionni, and Legrottaglie found the target with a header in the 38th minute following a corner kick by Del Piero.

Former Italy forward Christian Vieri came off the bench and pulled one back for Atalanta with a header in the 48th but Amauri restored Juve's two-goal advantage with a header in the 81st.

Italy midfielder Riccardo Montolivo scored in the 19th for Fiorentina to secure a 1-0 victory over Sampdoria.

Rolando Bianchi scored in the 53rd for Torino, having also tallied the only goal in a 1-0 win over Fiorentina in the Italian Cup on Wednesday.

Japan striker Takayuki Morimoto scored twice as Catania beat AS Roma 3-2.

Roma captain Francesco Totti exited in the 31st with a right thigh muscle injury and Davide Baiocco put Catania in front three minutes later.

Morimoto made it 3-0 with scores in the 40th and 56th before Roma clawed back with goals from Mirko Vucinic in the 74th and Jeremy Menez in the 78th.

Morimoto scored his first goal from a pass by Giovanni Tedesco, beating Brazil defender Juan to the ball and then blasting past Roma goalkeeper Alexander Doni with his left foot. His second proved to be the winner.

Earlier this month, Morimoto extended his contract with Catania for two more years.

Also Sunday, it was: Cagliari 1, Reggina 1; Chievo Verona 0, Genoa 1; and Lecce 0, Bologna 0.

(Agencies via Shanghai Daily December 22, 2008)