Soccer
Home draw postpones Inter Milan scudetto party
By DPA
May 12, 2008, 0:06 GMT

Milan - Inter Milan squandered a chance to win the Serie A title before their home crowd Sunday as Siena held them to a 2-2 draw while Roma beat Atalanta 2-1 and are now one point behind with a single game left.

Inter twice allowed the guests back into the game after taking the lead through Patrick Vieira and Mario Balotelli and squandered a spot kick through Marco Materazzi leaving the pitch to the boos of their fans who expected to celebrate a 16th scudetto.

Materazzi headed against the bar early in the game and Vieira threatened with a wide shot before putting Inter one up on 12 minutes, nodding home a Balotelli cross.

Siena, who won 1-0 at Juventus last weekend to secure their place in the top flight, showed no respect for the title holders and had their boldness rewarded when they levelled on 30 minutes through a diagonal shot from striker Massimo Maccarone.

Chilean Luis Jimenez had a close-range effort parried by Siena's Alex Manninger before Inter regained the lead on 45 minutes through Balotelli's close-range header off a Vieira assist.

Julio Cruz fired wide from good position early in the second half as Inter looked to cement the points only to be stunned again on 69 minutes as Houssine Kharja beat Julio Cesar with a low drive.

The scudetto seemed a done deal for Inter when they were awarded a spot kick but Materazzi saw his effort blocked by Austrian Manninger.

In Rome, Christian Panucci and Daniele De Rossi were on target to keep Roma's hopes alive before they visit struggling Catania next weekend, when Inter play at Parma, who are also battling to avoid relegation.

'I think Roma deserve a season finale like this, but it's not only us who are playing,' Roma general manager Rosella Sensi said.

'It was a wonderful Sunday. We lived great emotions. Roma deserve to be in the hunt for the title until the end and maybe even more. I want to thank the boys.'

The race for the fourth available Champions League berth saw Fiorentina beat 3-1 Parma to leapfrog AC Milan, who lost 3-1 at Napoli and may have to settle for a place in the UEFA Cup.

Juventus remained third despite a 1-1 home draw against struggling Catania, while Cagliari are safe from relegation after their 2-0 win away to Udinese.

Reggina are also certain to avoid the three-team drop zone after beating 2-0 second-from-last Empoli, Livorno lost 1-0 at home to Torino and are relegated to the Serie B. In mid-table clashes, Sampdoria won 2-0 at Palermo and Lazio also won 2-0 away to Genoa.