It was back to business as usual for Milan and Inter this weekend, with the former winning without impressing and the latter simply losing unimpressively.
Inter Milan’s hopes of retaining the Serie A title took a damaging blow as Leonardo’s men visited an in form Udinese side. In truth, things started well for the visitors, with Dejan Stanković scoring after 16 minutes for Inter, who were looking to close the gap further on cross town rivals AC Milan.
But Udinese soon made their good play count with Cristian Zapata levelling matters four minutes later. Antonio Di Natale then completed the quick fire turnaround with a second goal on 25 minutes.
The win was eventually sealed for the Little Zebras on 69 minutes, with Maurizio Domizzi pouncing on some inept Inter defending. Udinese moved to within a point of Juventus and Palermo in eighth, Inter meanwhile remain in fifth.
Juve on the other hand, had to settle for a point away at Sampdoria with both sides drawing a blank in an otherwise forgettable game. The stalemate saw Juve draw level with Inter on 35 points, with their title hopes fading and focus drawing on securing Champions League qualification.
Further up the table, Lazio suffered another defeat to fall to fourth in the table. Sergio Floccari had initially put the Romans in the lead on 5 minutes but Bologna was in front before half time courtesy of two goals in three minutes. Gaston Ramirez levelled things on 36 minutes before veteran striker Marco Di Vaio put the home side in front six minutes before half time.
The final five minutes saw more fireworks as first Andre Dias saw red for Lazio on 85 minutes before Di Vaio added a third for Bologna on 90 minutes.
Matters were made worse for the away fans after Roma had cruised to a 3-0 victory over a previously inform Cagliari the day before.
A Francesco Totti penalty on 22 minutes settled any early nerves. And despite Cagliari dominating for long spells, Simone Perrotta added a second goal with twenty minutes remaining to effectively seal the win.
The goals didn’t stop there though, with French star Jeremy Menez adding a third in stoppage time to see Roma move second (for a day) and above Lazio and Napoli.
The latter overcame an increasingly hapless Bari away from home on Sunday. The visitors opened the scoring on 38 minutes through Argentine Ezequiel Lavezzi as Napoli looked to close in on AC Milan. The second half saw things go from bad to worse for the home side with Bari’s Alessandro Parisi receiving his marching orders on 67 minutes after picking up his second yellow card. Edinson Cavani then added a second for the Sky Blues with three minutes to go, as Napoli moved back to second and two points better off than Roma.
Another side to pick up points over the weekend were Palermo who moved to within a point of Juventus in 6th after a deserved 1-0 win over second bottom Brescia. The hosts had to wait until four minutes from time for the breakthrough however, with Brescia proving resilient despite their league standing. In the end Palermo had defender Cesare Bovo to thank for the win, with the Italian finishing well after intense pressure from the home side.
It proved to be a weekend of misery for the bottom four, with Lecce also dropping points away at Fiorentina. The first half saw the visitors enjoy the best of the action with David Di Michele opening the scoring on 28 minutes. But all their hard work was soon undone in the second period as the Viola found their rhythm, equalising through Alberto Gilardino eleven minutes into the second half as both sides had to settle for a point.
And with Fiorentina drawing, Parma took full advantage of an out of form Catania to move level on points and up to 12th. The visitors had unveiled new manager Diego Simeone earlier in the week, but the Argentine was given a stark reminder of his new side’s failings as they crumbled to two second half goals from Parma.
Antonio Candreva opened the scoring on 57 minutes before Juventus loanee Sebastian Giovinco added a second from distance just after the hour mark as Catania dropped to 16th.
Elsewhere, Genoa and Chievo played out a 0-0 draw in a dull encounter that was only enlivened by the sending off of defender Boštjan Cesar for the hosts Chievo on 68 minutes. The draw saw both sides remain locked on 24 points, but it proved enough to move slightly clear of Catania in the table.
The final game of the weekend saw AC Milan entertain Cesena at the San Siro, with the home side looking to maintain their 4 point lead at the top of the table. For Cesena meanwhile, a defeat would consign them to 18th place and the relegation zone.
And whilst the visitors came away from Milan with their pride intact, one man certain to be dismayed was Maximiliano Pellegrino. For the second week running the defender experienced what could at best be described as a bad day at the office, after scoring yet another own goal to give AC Milan the lead in first half stoppage time.
It proved to be the decisive moment of the match, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic adding a second near the end of the 90 minutes to put the gloss on an otherwise ordinary display for Milan. Nevertheless, Allegri’s men march on, with new recruit Urby Emanuelson signed from Ajax over the weekend to fill the left-back slot.