By Alberto Cagliano Oct 26, 2008, 21:33 GMT
Milan - Udinese and Napoli Sunday drew level on points with Inter Milan at the top of the Italian Serie A as the reigning champions Inter were held to a scoreless draw at home against 10-man Genoa.
Udinese hammered struggling Roma 3-1 thanks to a brace from Antonio Di Natale, while Napoli snatched a 1-0 win away to Lazio for a tally of 17 points from eight games. Udinese now lead the way due to a superior goal difference.
The solid and well-organized Genoa team showed no respect for the reigning champions and even got an early chance when Marco Rossi on seven minutes fumbled a feed into the area.
Inter's first chance on 32 minutes saw Zlatan Ibrahimovic fire high, but the guests came much closer to scoring when Giandomenico Mesto on 35 minutes incredibly missed after Julio Cesar managed to deflect a drive from Argentinian Diego Milito.
One minute later, the bar rescued the Brazilian keeper as Mesto sent a searing shot to shake the woodwork to confirm his side's great form.
A header from Ibra opened the second half before his defence team mate Douglas Maicon had a shot deflected against the bar.
Genoa, however, did not relent and Julio Cesar saved a dangerous Milito drive on the hour.
One minute later Genoa lost Croat midfielder Ivan Juric due to a second yellow card but his dismissal hardly weakened Genoa, who managed to secure their first point from an away game adding it to the 12 they clinched from four home wins.
'I'm not satisfied,' Inter coach Jose Mourinho said. 'I always try to improve and I always want to win. And when you don't win you are not happy.
'I congratulated the Genoa coach (Gian Piero Gasperini). They played very well here and they deserved to go home with one point.'
An own goal was enough for Napoli to clinch three precious points against gritty Rome hosts Lazio, who remained on 13 points next to Genoa and Atalanta.
In Udine, international Di Natale opened converting a spot kick and scored a great counter-attack goal early in the second half.
One point behind the leading trio lie AC Milan after winning the Lombardy derby against Atalanta 1-0, with Brazilian Kaka on target off a Marco Borriello assist with 10 minutes left.
Level on 16 points with Milan are Fiorentina, who late Sunday won 3-1 at Palermo through an effort from Alberto Gilardino followed by Adrian Mutu's brace.
Gila is now the league's best scorer on seven goals despite having seemingly used his arm to stun Palermo's Marco Amelia.
Sampdoria defeated Bologna 2-0, Cagliari won 2-0 against Chievo, and Reggina also posted a 2-0 victory over Lecce through two penalties scored by Bernardo Corradi.
On Saturday, Siena and Catania drew 1-1 and Juventus beat crosstown rivals Torino 1-0.
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