Milan draw 4-4 with Udinese
Reuters - Sunday 09 January 2011, 21:57
MILAN - AC Milan drew 4-4 with Udinese in
an epic game on Sunday but their Serie A lead was cut to four
points after Edinson Cavani's hat-trick in Napoli's 3-0 win over
Juventus added a new twist at the midway point of the season.
Third-placed Lazio lost 2-1 to Lecce and champions Inter
Milan, now 11 points adrift of Milan, won 2-1 at Catania thanks
to Esteban Cambiasso's double to boost their outside hopes of a
sixth successive scudetto given they have two games in hand.
Visitors Udinese took the lead on 35 minutes when Gokhan
Inler hit the post and Antonio Di Natale, Serie A's joint top
scorer with Cavani, netted the rebound.
Milan hit back just before the break when Zlatan Ibrahimovic
crossed for the returning Alexandre Pato to tap in.
Udinese forward Alexis Sanchez, linked in the media with
Inter, headed in at the near post after half-time and Di Natale
scored again before an own goal by Mehdi Benatia and Pato's
second from Antonio Cassano's assist put the hosts level.
German Denis thought he had won it for Udinese a minute from
time but Ibrahimovic struck an injury-time equaliser after
another sublime pass from new signing Cassano.
Napoli, beaten at Inter on Thursday, surged to second after
Uruguay striker Cavani nodded in crosses from both flanks in the
first half and netted a diving header after the break.
Juventus thought they had equalised at 1-0 in Naples when
debutant Luca Toni, who signed from Genoa on Friday after Fabio
Quagliarella's injury, forced the ball home but he was harshly
penalised for a foul on goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis.
A second straight loss means fifth-placed Juve, who again
omitted Alessandro Del Piero at kick-off, lie nine behind Milan.
ROMA BEATEN
Hosts Lazio went behind in unfortunate fashion when Jeda's
shot struck the post and hit goalkeeper Fernando Muslera on the
back to fly into the net but an offside Stefano Mauri equalised.
Carlos Grossmuller gave Lecce the win in the 74th minute.
Inter, in seventh, laboured at Catania in Leonardo's second
game in charge but two second-half goals by Cambiasso, the
second a great header, cancelled out Alejandro Gomez's opener.
Sampdoria were gifted a 2-1 win over AS Roma when errors
from defender Juan contributed to both goals but sixth-placed
Palermo could not take advantage with a 0-0 draw at Chievo.
Fourth-placed Roma, who took the lead in the first period
thanks to a powerful run and shot from Mirko Vucinic, looked
comfortable until substitute Juan underhit a backpass and
compatriot Julio Sergio could only bring down Angelo Palombo.
The goalkeeper was dismissed without protest and Nicola
Pozzi blasted in the resulting penalty before Juan failed to
clear a ball in the box and former Roma winger Stefano Guberti
nipped in to score an 84th-minute winner.
The pressure on Fiorentina coach Sinisa Mihajlovic eased
after they fought back for a 3-2 home win over lowly Brescia.
A string of Serie A sides are showing wild swings of
inconsistency and Parma followed up Thursday's 4-1 win at Juve
with a 2-1 home defeat by Cagliari while Genoa looked toothless
without Toni in a 0-0 draw at Cesena.
Bottom side Bari lost 2-0 at home to improving Bologna.