Inter slump to shock home loss to lowly Novara
Reuters - Sunday 12 February 2012, 16:31
Inter Milan's Serie A
slump continued with a shock 1-0 defeat at home to bottom
club Novara on Sunday, leaving them without a win in their last
four outings.
Andrea Caracciolo scored the only goal as promoted Novara
completed a remarkable double over their opponents, having
beaten them 3-1 in September in the game which prompted Inter to
sack Gian Piero Gasparini after five games.
Inter, thumped 4-0 at AS Roma a week ago, have taken only
one point from their last four matches, stopping their Claudio
Ranieri-led revival in its tracks.
Fifth in the table, they have dropped 11 points behind
leaders AC Milan, after having cut the gap to five a month ago
with their win in the Milan derby.
Milan, 2-1 winners at Udinese on Saturday, have 47 points
from 23 games with unbeaten Juventus two behind in second with
two games in hand.
Juve's game at Bologna scheduled for later on Sunday was
postponed because of bad weather, as was Parma's game at home to
Fiorentina.
Caracciolo broke the deadlock at a freezing and half-empty
San Siro when he curled a left-foot shot past Julio Cesar in the
56th minute.
The visitors survived a torrid last few minutes after Ivan
Radovanovic was sent off in the 80th minute, receiving a second
yellow card for hoofing the ball upfield after his side had
conceded a free-kick.
Novara goalkeeper Samir Ujkani did well to stop Wesley
Sneijder's effort from the free-kick, before the Dutchman
crashed another shot against the underside of the crossbar in
the dying seconds.
Albanian Ujkani then produced a superb stop to deny
Giampaolo Pazzini at point-blank range with virtually the last
kick of the game.
Novara pulled level with 19th-placed Cesena on 16 points,
two behind Lecce.
Atalanta drew 0-0 with Lecce while Catania thrashed Genoa
4-0 in Sunday's other games.
Francesco Lodi's penalty gave Catania an early lead before
Pablo Barrientos scored twice in the second half and his fellow
Argentine Gonzalo Bergessio completed the scoring.