Rome - Inter beat AC Milan 1-0 to deny the cross-city arch-rivals the chance to stay atop the Italian Serie A and boost their own title hope after a poor start to the season.
Diego Milito scored the only goal nine minutes after the break, thanks to a mistake by Milan defender Ignacio Abate. He made a mess of his attempt to cut out a crossfield pass, allowing Milito to take the ball into the penalty area and beat Abbiati with a shot which went in off the base of the far post.
The victory Sunday takes Claudio Ranieri's side to within six points of the summit and just five behind the Rossoneri.
"We are making huge steps forward and it was important to beat Milan, the first head-to-head in our favour," Ranieri was quoted as saying by Xinhua.
"We were tight, tactically smart and ready to hit them at any moment. At times this season we played badly and won. Now we have been doing well and have rediscovered the energy to get back to our best," he said.
Inter silenced the San Siro in the fifth minute, but Thiago Motta's celebrations after he nodded in a free-kick from the right were short-lived as his strike was ruled out for offside.
In the very last minute of the first half, Milan's Mark van Bommel rattled the crossbar with a shot from outside the area and Julio Cesar had to stretch to push Urby Emanuelson's shot wide on the rebound.
AC Milan head coach Massimiliano Allegri complained about his side's poor finishing and Inter's negative defending following the loss.
"If you look at the game, Inter just waited to strike on the counter-attack and played with 10 men behind the ball, so it wasn't easy for us to find space. We had to score early or face a brick wall," he said.
"We had a few chances to equalise, but weren't sharp enough and the goalkeeper performed some fine saves. Ultimately Milan played and Inter defended," he added.
Juventus missed the opportunity to put some real pressure on Serie A leaders AC Milan after being held to a 1-1 draw by Cagliari.
Unbeaten Juve started the weekend level on 37 points with Milan at the top and looked set to pick up three more points after taking a seventh-minute lead through Montenegrin striker Mirko Vucinic.
However, mid-table Cagliari upset their hosts by drawing level just after half-time through Andrea Cossu and Juve could not find a winner, settling for an eighth draw in 18 games this season.
Lazio ended a three-match winless run in the Italian league with a 2-0 victory over 10-man Atalanta.
Genoa came from behind to win their first game of 2012, defeating high-flying Udinese 3-2 in a thriller at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
Adrian Mutu struck twice in the first half as Cesena returned to winning ways with a 3-1 win against fellow relegation battlers Novara.
Lecce hauled themselves off the foot of the Serie A standings with a scrappy 1-0 victory away to Fiorentina.
Palermo's winless run on the road this season continued as they lost 1-0 at Chievo. Paolo Sammarco netted the only goal of the game at the Marc' Antonio Bentegodi stadium in the 50th minute.
Today : Sunday - May 27, 2012, 01:54pm (GMT+5.5)
