Date:02/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/02/stories/2008120256941900.htm

Sport - Football

Inter extends lead

MILAN: Inter Milan ended up six points clear at the top of Serie A on Sunday after the Italian champion beat Napoli 2-1 and rival AC Milan was humbled 3-1 at mid-table Palermo.

Striker Fabrizio Miccoli fired in a superb goal on 50 minutes before Edinson Cavani and Simplicio sealed Palermo’s victory with Ronaldinho, who had a spotkick saved at 0-0, netting a late penalty for the shell-shocked visitor.

Milan, without the suspended Kaka in Sicily, has now not won in four away games in all competitions.

Earlier in the day, Inter went 2-0 up through Ivan Cordoba and Sulley Muntari but was forced to hang on after Ezequiel Lavezzi pulled one back on 36 minutes.

Inter has 33 points from 14 games with Milan on 27 alongside Juventus.

Jose Mourinho’s side, which beat Juve last Saturday thanks to another Muntari goal, continues to grind out results in Serie A despite their inconsistency. Last term’s runner-up AS Roma, which had a terrible start, recorded a third straight league win after Francesco Totti netted in the second half to seal a 1-0 victory over Fiorentina.

Roma remains joint fifth with Lazio, which went down 2-0 in soggy Bergamo against midtable Atalanta.

Villarreal in second spot

Meanwhile, in Spain’s Primera Liga, Villarreal and Valencia gave chase to leader Barcelona with victories on Sunday.

Villarreal climbed to second place on 28 points, four short of Barca, with a 2-1 win at bottom club Recreativo Huelva.

The results: Serie A: Atalanta 2 (Valdes 54, Floccari 68) bt Lazio 0; Cagliari 1 (Jeda 48) bt Sampdoria 0; Genoa 1 (Sculli 55) drew with Bologna 1 (Di Vaio 63); Inter Milan 2 (Cordoba 16, Muntari 24) bt Napoli 1 (Lavezzi 36).

AS Roma 1 (Totti 59) bt Fiorentina 0; Siena 1 (Maccarone 19) bt Torino 0; Udinese 0 lost to Chievo 1 (Felipe 87-og); Palermo 3 (Miccoli 50, Cavani 59, Simplicio 80) bt AC Milan 1 (Ronaldinho 83-pen).

Primera Liga: Atletico Madrid 4 (Simao 21, Sergio Aguero 34, Diego Forlan 78, 81) bt Racing Santander 1 (Mohd. Tchite 7-pen); Athletic Bilbao 2 (Fernando Llorente 8, 30) bt Numancia 0; Malaga 4 (Apono 55-pen, Nabil Baha 62, Albert Luque 84, Eliseu 90+2) bt Osasuna 2.

Espanyol 0 lost to Sporting Gijon 1 (Carmelo); Real Valladolid 3 (Jose Garcia Calvo 29, Angel Vivar Dorado 56, Henok Goitom 65) bt Real Mallorca 0; Recreativo Huelva 1 (Adrian Colunga 82-pen) lost to Villarreal 2 (Santi Cazorla 26, Ariel Ibagaza 44); Almeria 0 lost to Deportivo Coruna 1 (Joan Verdu 75). — Agencies