Inter Milan's record run of 17 consecutive Serie A wins was
brought to an end after they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to
Udinese on Wednesday.
Nigerian midfielder Christian Obodo put the visitors ahead with
an overhead kick two minutes into the second half, before Inter
substitute Hernan Crespo headed home Maxwell's left-wing cross in
the 67th minute.
Inter pressed for a winning goal, but found no way through a
stubborn Udinese defence.
Udinese were also the last team to take points off Inter in the
league, holding them to a 0-0 draw at the Friuli stadium last
October before the reigning champions embarked on their amazing
run.
Despite seeing their flawless run ended, Inter remain 14 points
clear at the top of the table as second-placed Roma also drew, held
2-2 at Chievo.
Goals from Erjon Bogdani and Franco Semioli put Chievo 2-0 up
before Roma captain Francesco Totti netted twice for the visitors,
taking his league tally for the season to 16.
Inter, who are unbeaten in the league, have 67 points from their
25 matches played, followed by Roma on 53 points.
Inter coach Roberto Mancini said he felt no bitterness at seeing
his team's winning run halted.
"It was bound to happen sooner or later," Mancini told SKY
Italia.
"If it didn't happen today, it could have happened at the
weekend. But it doesn't change anything."
Mancini insisted his players were still highly motivated in the
championship race, despite their huge lead over Roma.
"The players always give their best," he said.
"Sometimes we don't play well, but I cannot criticise them for
their effort."
Inter's match at the San Siro was the only one of Wednesday's 10
first division games to be played in the evening. The other nine
matches all kicked-off in the afternoon as part of the Italian
government's attempts to reduce the threat of crowd trouble.
The decision to reduce the number of night matches followed the
death of a policeman during violence in Catania earlier this
month.
The early kick-offs inevitably resulted in low attendances at
most grounds.
Third-placed Palermo were held to a 0-0 draw at home to AC
Milan, one of several teams chasing the fourth and final Champions
league place for next season. Luck was against the visitors with
Kaka seeing his seventh-minute penalty saved by Alberto Fontana and
Ronaldo hitting the crossbar.
Lazio retained fourth place after late goals from Sebastiano
Siviglia and Tommaso Rocchi sealed a 3-1 home win against Catania,
while Empoli leapfrogged AC Milan into fifth spot with a 3-1 home
victory over Messina.
Palermo have 45 points, followed by Lazio on 40, Empoli on 38
and AC Milan on 37.
The battle of the new coaches ended in a 1-0 victory for Gianni
De Biasi's Torino over Marco Giampaolo's Cagliari. De Biasi and
Giampaolo were both re-appointed by the struggling clubs on Monday
after being sacked earlier in the season.
Reggina and Fiorentina, both docked points for their involvement
in last summer's match-fixing scandal, played out a 1-1 draw and
Siena against Livorno ended goalless.
Sampdoria came from behind to defeat Atalanta 2-1 and bottom
club Ascoli drew 0-0 with relegation-threatened Parma.
All the matches on Wednesday afternoon were open to the public
as the stadiums of the 10 home clubs have either complied with
security regulations or carried out most of the work asked of them
by the Interior Ministry in the wake of the Catania riot.
Those not fully complying - Ascoli, Chievo and Empoli - were
only allowed to open their gates to season-ticket holders.
(China Daily via AFP March 2, 2007)