Inter Milan responded to AS Roma’s earlier 3-1 victory at Udinese by beating Fiorentina 2-0 at the San Siro on Sunday to maintain their four-point lead in Serie A.
Goals from Esteban Cambiasso and teenage striker Mario Balotelli earned the champions a deserved victory over Champions League chasing Fiorentina.
The result also gave AC Milan a Champions League lifeline after they lost 3-2 at Juventus on Saturday. The Viola’s loss meant Milan remain just four points off fourth place and the final Champions League qualification position.
Inter had the better of the first half chances but French goalkeeper Sebastien Frey was in fine form and denied Javier Zanetti and Julio Cruz.
But he could do nothing 10 minutes after the restart when France captain Patrick Vieira managed to square the ball into the box despite being grounded, finding Cambiasso, who rifled home into the roof of the net.
Seven minutes later rising star Balotelli beat the offside trap and kept his head to cooly slot home from just inside the area.
Earlier Roma had kept their Serie A title dreams alive with a come-from behind victory in Udine.
It was a crucial victory for Roma, who welcomed back Francesco Totti to the starting line-up.
Any worries they would still be suffering a Champions League hangover after losing to Manchester United in midweek were dispelled by goals from Mirko Vucinic, Rodrigo Taddei and Ludovic Giuly, cancelling out Antonio Di Natale’s opener.
Roma coach Luciano Spalletti was delighted with the result which kept the pressure on Inter with only five matches left.
“We played a great match and really deserved the victory, we also deserved to be ahead before they took the lead,” he said.
Totti was quickly back in the swing of things and was at the heart of most of Roma’s forward momentum, but they created nothing clear-cut in the first 45 minutes, despite persistent probing.
And six minutes after the break the visitors fell behind after an horrendous error from Cristian Panucci.
The veteran defender ducked away from a far post cross, allowing Di Natale to plant a downward header past goalkeeper Doni. That prompted a furious argument between Doni and Panucci.
Roma started to take the ascendancy and Brazilian full-back Cicinho rattled the post.
They were level on 64 minutes as David Pizarro dinked a ball into the area and Macedonia forward Vucinic came off the left wing to take the ball on his chest and fire home in one fluid movement.
The visitors were in control and it was no surprise on 70 minutes when they took the lead, Taddei curling home a left footed shot from inside the area.
In the last minute substitute Giuly took a pass from Matteo Brighi and shot home left footed.
In other games Sampdoria missed the chance to stake their claim for Champions League soccer next season as they lost 1-0 at lowly Reggina.
Marloon Herrera was crying — happy tears. With Cuba trailing in the fifth inning of its Little League World Series (LLWS) opener on Thursday, Herrera lined a two-run double to give his team the lead. When the Czech Republic, representing Europe-Africa, made a pitching change, he ran over to give his third base coach a hug. Cuba went on to win 4-1. It was the first game at this year’s tournament for both sides, but it was also the beginning of Cuba’s second appearance in the series ever — and it was emotional. “You breathe baseball in Cuba,” manager Everaldo Machado said on
Taiwan on Friday beat Australia 11-0 at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Taiwan are represented at the tournament by Taoyuan’s Gueishan Elementary School, who won the Asia-Pacific regional tournament to earn the trip to the US. Australia are represented by the Hills Red team from Sydney. Taiwan advanced to a game tomorrow against Santa Clara, representing Cuba, who won 4-1 against the Czech Republic’s Brno, the Europe-Africa regional qualifiers. Australian starter Sayre Howick had a tough time controlling his pitches at Volunteer Stadium, one of which allowed Taiwan to open their account. They scored six in the inning and
World Boxing, an international amateur boxing organization formed last year after a breakdown in relations between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Boxing Association (IBA), has announced the admission of Taiwan, along with four other nations, into its growing list of members. In a statement released on its Web site on Friday, the Swiss- based organization said that in addition to Taiwan, admitted as Chinese Taipei, Bhutan, Ecuador, Fiji and Pakistan have also become members. The new members all have well-rounded national and international boxing programs as well as transparency in the leadership and management of their national boxing programs,
COOLED DOWN: Du Plessis apologized after the fight for comments about his Nigerian-born opponent, after Adesanya said he planned to take the belt back to Africa South African Dricus du Plessis yesterday took a flurry of body hits across four rounds before defeating Israel Adesanya by submission to retain his middleweight championship at UFC 305. After scoring some early takedowns, Du Plessis (22-2) had to withstand a flurry of body strikes from Adesanya through the middle rounds, which appeared to be taking a toll on the 30-year-old South African as the fight progressed. However, a left hook followed by three rights helped bring Adesanya down, giving Du Plessis the opening he wanted as he swiftly got the choke hold that forced the Nigerian-born New Zealander to tap out