Calan blog

Inter's Italian title hopes hit by inspired Juve

ROME (AFP) – Alessandro Matri was the hero as Juventus stunned an out-of-sorts Inter Milan 1-0 in Turin on Sunday to dent the champions' title hopes.

Inter now trail leaders AC Milan by eight points, with a game in hand, after falling to only their second defeat under Leonardo.

The champions produced a limp display against a dogged Juve, who breathed new life into their own Champions League hopes, moving up to sixth.

Juve coach Luigi Delneri said he hoped this win would give his team a boost.

"It was an important game against an Inter team who were in good form and have great quality but we had good chances to finish the game," he said.

"We've come through a difficult period psychologically and this win gives us security in what we're doing."

Leonardo said his team hadn't performed in the first 45 minutes.

"We struggled to create chances in the first half, Juve played a great game, they were compact and difficult to break down," he said.

"But we had a lot of the ball, we could have constructed more in the first half while the chances we conceded were when we gave away the ball.

"In the second half we did very well, after 15 minutes we made a change to put more players up front, we conceded two or three counters, Matri had clear chances but we created clear chances in the final third."

The previously in-form Inter started in confident fashion and carved Juve open after just two minutes.

However, with the option of two unmarked strikers to aim at, Wesley Sneijder tried to pick out Samuel Eto'o only to hit his pass straight at Frederik Sorensen, the ball spinning up and into the path of his other option, Giampaolo Pazzini, who scuffed his volley well off target.

In a half a few chances it was unsurprisingly a mistake that led to the opener.

Ivan Cordoba mistimed his leap to meet Sorensen's cross from the right, leaving Matri unmarked to head home from seven yards.

Inter fashioned an almost identical chance of their own on 50 minutes with Maicon centering for Pazzini but his header was straight at Gianluigi Buffon, who parried easily.

Despite having struggled throughout this season, Juve were giving as good as they got and Matri should have done better than head wide with a free header from 10 yards.

Sneijder had a sight of goal on 66 minutes but his fierce drive hit his own player, substitute Goran Pandev.

Pazzini followed that up with a volley that probably landed closer to the corner flag than the goal.

Inter's best chance came eight minutes from the end as Eto'o played a one-two with Sneijder, took the Dutch playmaker's lofted return but Buffon came out bravely to crowd the Cameroon captain's shot.

Juve almost punished Inter on the counter as Simone Pepe got down the left and crossed for Matri whose shot flashed past the near post.

A minute from time Inter knocked on the door again as Maicon surged forward and crossed from the right only for Eto'o at the back post to blast his shot from five yards onto the bar before moments later swinging at thin air when attempting a volley from an angle.

Earlier, Lazio kept their slim Serie A title hopes alive as they won 2-0 away to Brescia.

Edy Reja's team remain seven points off Milan, who thrashed Parma 4-0 on Saturday, and moved above Inter into third.

Goals from Alvaro Gonzalez on 18 minutes and Libor Kozak just before the hour mark ensured Lazio maintained their grip on a Champions Legaue place.

Udinese are not letting up in their pursuit of a top four finish as they cruised to a 3-0 win at troubled Cesena.

Antonio Di Natale scored another brace, either side of a strike by Gokhan Inler, keeping fifth placed Udinese just two points behind third-placed Lazio.

It wasn't such happy news for Palermo, whose hopes of securing a Champions League finish suffered a blow as they fell to a shock 4-2 defeat at home to Fiorentina.