Roma now in pursuit of Inter

FC Internazionale Milano took another step towards the defence of their Scudetto by defeating Cagliari Calcio 3-0 at San Siro, while AS Roma are second after extending their unbeaten run to 19 games in all competitions with a 1-0 triumph over ACF Fiorentina.

Cagliari arrived in Milan unbeaten in six matches but were effectively out of contention inside 20 minutes following a simple finish by Goran Pandev (6) and a powerful header from Walter Samuel (20). Diego Milito then added a third two minutes after the break, running on to a pass from Pandev and coolly beating Michael Agazzi for his 14th league goal of the campaign. While Inter go from strength to strength, their city rivals, AC Milan, failed to win for the fourth successive fixture, Ronaldinho and Massimo Ambrosini both hitting the woodwork in a goalless draw at Bologna FC.

That result allowed Roma to leapfrog the Rossoneri thanks to Mirko Vučinić's goal with eight minutes remaining of the late game in Florence. Fourth-placed SSC Napoli's hopes of keeping pace with the capital club were dashed at lowly Udinese Calcio, Antonio Di Natale scoring twice in added time to complete his hat-trick and earn the Zebrette a 3-1 win. Napoli, for whom the loss was the first in 16 league games under coach Walter Mazzarri, had Christian Maggio (44) sent off.

Elsewhere, UC Sampdoria moved above Juventus into sixth thanks to a 2-1 win at strugglers AC Siena, who are now ten points adrift of safety, while Calcio Catania moved out of the bottom three at the expense of S.S. Lazio after defeating the Biancocelesti 1-0. Second-bottom Atalanta BC boosted their survival chances courtesy of a 1-0 win against AS Bari, while Genoa CFC defeated AC Chievo Verona by the same scoreline.