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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