Muntari fires Inter to victory over Juventus

AFP - 22 November 2008 21:35

Stuttering Fiorentina relaunched their faltering title challenge with a vital 4-2 home victory over Udinese on Saturday. Riccardo Montolivo, seen here in May 2008, scored a brace, Adrian Mutu hit the net from the spot and Alberto Gilardino also got his name on the scoresheet as La Viola came from behind to move up to fourth in the table.

ROME (AFP) - A second half goal from Ghana midfielder Sulley Muntari gave champions Inter Milan a narrow 1-0 win over Juventus at the San Siro on Saturday.

Meanwhile, stuttering Fiorentina relaunched their faltering title challenge with a vital 4-2 home victory over Udinese.

Inter are now four points clear at the top, although their bitter city rivals AC Milan can close that gap back to one point if they win at Torino on Sunday.

Juventus stay third while Fiorentina move up to fourth.

Inter boss Jose Mourinho claimed his team's discipline in sticking to his tactics made the difference.

"I have an intelligent team and they did everything they needed to do to win. They paid attention to winning and so they won," he said.

"They were excellent from start to finish. Obviously I'm very happy about beating Juve.

"We knew we would win if we made no mistakes. Alessandro Del Piero is in great form at the moment but we controlled the match.

"Adriano gave what the team needed up against two defenders like (Giorgio) Chiellini and (Nicola) Legrottaglie.

"We needed someone like Adriano and the goal showed this as he took two defenders away from the play. He also helped us defensively."

The game at the San Siro was played at a furious pace with end to end action, although few clearcut scoring chances.

Dejan Stankovic broke through for Inter on 12 minutes but couldn't quite keep his balance under pressure from challenges by Christian Molinaro and then Chiellini.

On 26 minutes, Legrottaglie completely missed the ball, allowing Zlatan Ibrahimovic to scamper away down the left but the Sweden striker dragged his shot wide when a square ball to the waiting Adriano would have presented the recalled Brazilian with an open goal.

In first half stoppage time Muntari took a pass from Ibrahimovic in his stride and brought a smart save out of Alex Manninger.

Inter continued to create the best openings after the break and Adriano headed a cross from Ibrahimovic over the bar before the Swede took a Stankovic pass on his chest but shot wide of the near post.

But the hosts took the lead in scrappy fashion 18 minutes from time as a scuffed Ibrahimovic shot found Muntari at the back post with an empty goal to tap into.

That spurred Juventus into life and Alessandro Del Piero drew a fine diving save from Inter goalkeeper Julio Cesar with a header from a corner on 82 minutes.

In Florence, Riccardo Montolivo scored a brace, Adrian Mutu hit the net from the penalty spot and Alberto Gilardino also got his name on the scoresheet, although Gianluca Comotto was sent off late on.

Antonio Floro Flores had given Udinese a first half lead and substitute Antonio Di Natale tucked home a penalty late on for the visitors.

Fiorentina had lost two of their previous three matches at lowly Cagliari and Siena and were seeing their championship hopes start to drift away.

Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli admitted that Udinese had been the better team in the first half.

"Until we scored we hadn't threatened and we had some problems because we lost our shape," he said.

"At that point we were lucky not to lose a second goal. Then in the second half we had 25 incredible minutes, maybe the best since I've been here in Florence."

For Udinese it was a third straight defeat and fourth match in a row without a win since they enjoyed a share of the Serie A lead.

Udinese boss Pasquale Marino blamed the referee.

"It wasn't Fiorentina whose form changed the match, it was the referee's," he moaned.

"Yes we did miss a lot of chances but we deserved more. And the referee's decisions didn't help us."

Floro Flores scored a fine goal to give Udinese a 29th-minute lead but the game turned on a soft penalty award seven minutes after the break.

Alberto Gilardino tumbled in the box under pressure from Maurizio Domizzi and Mutu cleverly dinked the penalty home with a cheeky chip.

Montolivo scored twice and then Mutu crossed for Gilardino to poke home a fourth.

Comotto was red carded after stupidly handling on the line to deny Floro Flores a second but Di Natale stroked home the resultant spot kick.