Milan: Inter Milan denied AC Milan a chance to take top spot in Serie A by winning 1-0 in the city derby on Sunday from Diego Milito's second-half goal.
After Juventus' 1-1 draw with Cagliari, Milan had the chance to lead by two points in the standings but Milito struck in the 54th minute in front of a sellout crowd at the Stadio San Siro to dash those hopes.
Milan enjoyed several good opportunities in a vibrant first half, including Mark Van Bommel striking the crossbar in stoppage time, but Inter defended deeply after taking the lead to prevent the defending champions from winning a fourth derby in a row.
It is Inter's sixth win in a row and leaves Claudio Ranieri's team six points behind Juventus, which lead by a point. It is also the clearest affirmation yet that Inter have returned to form following a dire start to the season.
"A derby win is always pleasing, I'm happy for the fans," Ranieri said. "''We're taking giant steps at the moment. It was important to beat Milan, it gives us even more confidence.
"We're playing well, making ourselves proud again. I'm still not talking about the Scudetto, now we're just looking at the Champions League qualifying places. We started late but if the others trip up then we have to be ready to take advantage. That's why we have to keep fighting. It's fundamental that we get into the Champions League and then we'll see."
There was more good news for Inter with Wesley Sneijder making his first appearance since Nov. 2 when he replaced Milito in the 76th minute.
Inter thought it had got off to the perfect start when Giampaolo Pazzini headed Maicon's free kick into the bottom right corner, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside.
Milan took that warning to heart and should have taken the lead when Alexandre Pato, who had been on the verge of a € 35million move to Paris Saint-Germain before Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi intervened, blazed woefully wide from a good position.
Inter had a rare chance five minutes from the break when a mix-up in the Milan defence saw the ball fall to an unmarked Ricardo Alvarez, but he fired straight at goalkeeper Christian Abbiati from point-blank range.
Milan could have gone in at halftime in front, as Mark Van Bommel struck the bar in stoppage time. The ball rebounded back to the Dutchman and he unleashed another fierce strike which Inter goalkeeper Julio Cesar did well to tip round his left post.
Inter hardly had a sight of goal in the first half but took the lead when a mistake by Ignazio Abate resulted in the ball falling to Milito in space 20 yards out on the left flank. The Argentine took one look up before striking a perfect shot past Abbiati and in off the right hand post for his fourth goal in three games.
Inter camped out in their own half after the goal and closely marked their former star Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Pato had another opportunity in the 77th minute but he fired a weak effort straight at goalkeeper Julio Cesar.
Milan can take some comfort in the fact they have not lost much in the title race after Juventus was held to a 1-1 draw.
"If I could go back and with hindsight I'd do exactly the same," Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri said. "It wasn't easy to play against this Inter team tonight because they played very deep, defending with 10 men behind the ball and trying to get things on the counterattack, which they did with their first chance.
"Milan is not falling apart. Today was a day in which the top three only got a point between them. All that's happened is that we lost the derby and Inter are back in the title race. We were the ones who made the game, especially in the first half."
Mirko Vucinic gave Juventus the lead in the seventh minute, but Andrea Cossu leveled two minutes into the second half. In a frantic finish, both teams had good chances to steal all three points. Arturo Vidal had the best opportunity of them all, heading over from point-blank range.
Udinese missed a chance to take advantage of Juve's slip, losing 3-2 to 10-man Genoa to be three points off the pace. Damiano Ferronetti headed Udinese into the lead in the 14th minute but second-half goals from Andreas Granqvist, Bosko Jankovic and Rodrigo Palacio gave Genoa victory.
Genoa captain Marco Rossi was sent off 15 minutes from time for bringing down Antonio Di Natale, who decisively fired home the spot kick. TV replays, however, showed the Genoa captain had played the ball.
Lazio remains fourth following a 2-0 victory at Atalanta. Hernanes fired in the opener from the spot in the 20th minute after Stefan Radu had been fouled in the area, and Miroslav Klose sealed the victory in stoppage time.
Atalanta defender Stefano Lucchini was dismissed for a second bookable offense seven minutes after the interval.
At the other end of the table, Novara look even more in trouble after losing 3-1 at fellow struggler Cesena.
Adrian Mutu scored his 100th Serie A goal in the 21st minute, and he doubled Cesena's lead six minutes from halftime with a penalty into the bottom right corner.
Leandro Rinaudo's own goal in first-half stoppage time gave Cesena an unassailable lead and meant that Takayuki Morimoto's last-minute goal was little more than a consolation for Novara.
Cesena is now three points off safety, with Novara three points further back and level with Lecce at the bottom of the table.
Lecce won 1-0 at Fiorentina thanks to David Di Michele's 22nd-minute penalty.
Roberto Donadoni's spell in charge of Parma got off to a winning start as he oversaw a 3-1 victory over Siena.
Jonathan Biabiany and Francesco Valiani had put Parma ahead before Paolo Grossi grabbed one back for the visitors. But Sebastian Giovinco sealed the result deep into stoppage time.
Elsewhere, Paolo Sammarco scored the only goal of the game six minutes into the second half as Chievo beat Palermo 1-0.
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