ROME, (AFP) - AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti insisted the Scudetto title race was wide open after Juventus slipped up at struggling Cagliari on Saturday. Juventus were seconds away from a humiliating defeat against the Sardinian outfit until Fabio Cannavero scored in the last kick of the game to earn Juve a 1-1 draw.
That failure to come away with a result reduced their advantage at the top of Serie A to five points. Milan had temporarily cut the gap to four points with Friday's 1-0 derby win over Inter at the San Siro.
Cannavaro's late intervention after Cagliari had taken a shock first half lead left Juve still without a win in their last six matches and Ancelotti anticipating a tense climax to the season.
"Were not going to give in on the Serie A title race," he said.
"Theres still everything to play for."
Milan's Holland international Clarence Seedorf echoed his boss's sentiments.
"Now we can really dream of taking the Scudetto out of Juves hands," he said.
Inter, whose fans boycotted Friday's derby in protest at their failure to make it into the Champions League last four, are lying third, four points adrift of Milan, with Fiorentina, 3-1 winners over bottom club Treviso, overtaking Roma for fourth.
Roma slipped a place after a 3-3 draw with Palermo, with the club immediately below them Lazio seeing off Livorno 3-1.
Down in Sardinia Cagliari belied their underdog status to take an unscripted lead when David Suaro converted a penalty after a Gianluca Zambrotta foul on Antonio Langella one minute before the break.
A disappointing Adrian Mutu was replaced by Mauro Camoranesi for the second half as Juventus sought to launch a fightback against the Serie A strugglers.
And things were looking brighter for Juve when they were awarded a 57th minute penalty when Cagliari's Daniele Conti mistimed his jump and sent Zambrotta sprawling to the ground.
Against heated protests from the hosts the referee stuck by his decision only for Antonio Chimenti to save his former colleague Alessandro Del Peiro's spot-kick.
Then just as Cagliari appeared to have held on to inflict Juventus' second defeat of the season their afternoon was turned upside down in the final seconds when Cannavaro headed home Camoranesi's corner.
Chaotic scenes ensued with Cagliari's Antonio Langella sent off for dissent and Chimenti had to be pulled away by directors and teammates.
Twenty four hours earlier Milan had consolidated their position in second and kept up the pressure on Juve when Brazilian midfielder Kaka broke stalemate at the San Siro with 20 minutes to go.
This was the perfect warm-up for Milan ahead of Tuesday's Champions league semi-final first leg date with Barcelona with Ancelotti saying his men had shown another side to their character.
"It was a victory born more out of strength than quality, which is rare for us," said Ancelotti.
For Inter, who are now four points shy of their arch enemies, it spelled the latest reverse in what has been a difficult month which has seen them dumped out of Europe by Villarreal and then attacked by an angry mob of their own fans last weekend.
In other results Saturday Reggina beat Ascoli 2-0, Parma came away from Sampdoria as 2-0 winners, Empoli saw off Siena 2-1, and Udinese beat Lewcce by the same scoreline.
