Soccer-Toni, 37, goes top of Serie A scoring charts

MILAN, May 24 (Reuters) - Luca Toni went top of the Serie A scoring chart two days before his 38th birthday when he netted twice in Verona's 2-2 draw away to Parma on Sunday. With one round of matches of the season to play, the former Italy striker, who is at his 14th club and has scored at every one of them, took his tally to 21 goals, one ahead of Juventus striker Carlos Tevez and Inter Milan's Mauro Icardi. Relegated Parma took a 2-0 lead with goals by Antonio Nocerino and Silvestre Varela before 2006 World Cup winner Toni pulled one back by heading in from Alessandro Agostini's cross three minutes before the break. Toni equalised from a penalty with 10 minutes left after Zouhair Feddal was harshly ruled to have handled Javier Saviola's cross, and was denied a hat-trick when his header was stopped by Parma goalkeeper Antonio Mirante. Toni's varied career began with stints at lower league clubs Modena, Empoli, Fiorenzuola, Treviso and Lodigiani. At one point he played alongside current Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola and Juventus playmaker Andrea Pirlo at Brescia and also had an unhappy spell at Bayern where he feel out with coach Louis van Gaal. Among other clubs, he played briefly for Juventus and then in the United Arab Emirates before joining Verona where he is completing his second season. "We'd like to help Toni top the scorers' chart. For us and for him, it would be like winning the Scudetto," coach Andrea Mandorlini told reporters. Seventh-placed Sampdoria's chances of qualifying for the Europa League on the pitch ended in a 1-1 draw at Empoli where Samuel Eto'o scored their equaliser in stoppage time, the Cameroonian's second goal since joining the club in January. However, Sinisa Mihajlovic's team still have a chance if sixth-placed city rivals Genoa fail in their appeal to obtain a European licence, which has been denied them in the first instance. Fiorentina, in fifth, made sure of a place in the Europa League with a 3-2 win at Palermo. (Writing by Brian Homewood in Berne, editing by Mark Meadows)