Inter Milan widen lead through win over Cagliari

Published>Mon, Feb 08 10 04:54 PM

Rome, Feb 8 (DPA) Serie A football champions Inter Milan beat visiting Cagliari 3-0 Sunday and stretched their lead to 10 points on city rivals AC Milan.

The Devils, who like Inter have a game in hand, drew 0-0 at Bologna, while Roma remained eight points adrift from the top thanks to a 1-0 win in a late classic game at Fiorentina.

The Rome side struggled through most of the game against the tonic Florence side, but their Montenegro striker Mirko Vucinic managed a winning corner-kick flick with eight minutes to go.

Fiorentina had much to regret as they missed several good chances that began when Peruvian Juan Vargas twice forced great saves from Julio Sergio.

After a wide volley from Riccardo Montolivo, Roma's Brazilian goalkeeper got into serious action on 28 minutes to parry Vargas' close-range volley and a following searing shot from Manuel Pasqual.

Montenegro's Stevan Jovetic forced a hard save from a tight angle before defender Lorenzo De Silvestri blew a perfect counter-attack assist with an embarrassing high drive.

After the break, Vucinic botched a first attempt for Roma with a close-range blunder off a perfect feed from Norse John Riise, and Alberto Gilardino on 51 minutes failed to convert a great assist from Jovetic.

Fiorentina kept up a hammering pace and threatened with a break from Jovetic and a 74th-minute header from Gilardino, but Julio Sergio was always in the right spot to deny their efforts.

Earlier Sunday, Argentine Diego Milito scored his 14th goal for Inter but lost ground to Udinese's Antonio Di Natale, now the top scorer on 16 goals after a hat-trick in a 3-1 win that ended Napoli's unbeaten run of 15 games.

The Naples-born Udinese captain converted an early spot kick and secured his side's win with two late goals, after Christian Maggio levelled in the first half before being dismissed with two yellow cards.

Napoli three times shook the woodwork during the game and ended a run of 15 unbeaten games, but still held onto fourth position that secures the last available Champions League berth.

Genoa-side Sampdoria won 2-1 at bottom side Siena to leapfrog in sixth place struggling Juventus, who drew 1-1 Saturday at minnows Livorno. Palermo moved to fifth by beating Parma 2-1 Saturday.

Elsewhere Sunday, Genoa moved level with Juve as they edged Chievo 1-0, Catania beat Lazio 1-0 in a relegation tie, and struggling Atalanta won 1-0 against Bari.

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