Inter stretch advantage as Milan slip up

FC Internazionale Milano's Serie A lead doubled to six points on Sunday as they defeated SSC Napoli 2-1 in an afternoon encounter and their neighbours AC Milan lost 3-1 to US Città di Palermo in the late game.

First-half goals
All the goals in Inter's home victory against fourth-placed SSC Napoli at came inside a 20-minute period during the first half. Iván Córdoba and Sulley Muntari put Inter firmly in command before the half-hour mark, and although Ezequiel Lavezzi reduced the arrears on 36 minutes, Napoli were unable to respond again.

Milan derailed
That meant Milan had to win to keep Inter within their sights but it was Palermo who forged ahead in Sicily when Fabrizio Miccoli scored five minutes after half-time. Edison Cavani quickly doubled the lead and Fabio Simplicio put the game firmly beyond the visitors before Ronaldinho − who had a 28th-minute spot-kick saved by Marco Amelia − converted his second penalty late on for a Milan team who stay level with Juventus, 4-0 victors against Reggina Calcio on Saturday.

Duo miss out
Both S.S. Lazio and ACF Fiorentina, who remain in fifth and six respectively, were unable to take advantage of Napoli's loss. Delio Rossi's Lazio were beaten 2-0 in Bergamo by Atalanta BC, the home side scoring twice inside 15 minutes just after the break through Jaime Valdés and Sergio Floccari. Francesco Totti's fourth league goal of the season earned AS Roma their third Serie A win in as many matches at the expense of Fiorentina.

Chievo success
Roma are up to 14th, level on points with Cagliari Calcio, who registered their fifth win in eight games by defeating UC Sampdoria 1-0. Elsewhere, mid-table Genoa CFC were held 1-1 at home by lowly Bologna FC, Massimo Maccarone's 19th-minute strike was sufficient for AC Siena to defeat another struggler, Torino FC, and an own goal by Udinese Calcio's Felipe three minutes from time earned bottom side AC Chievo Verona their first win since the opening weekend of the season.