Own goal horror sends Inter nine points clear

AFP - 5 April 2009 15:25

Fiorentina´s Alberto Gilardino (right) fights for the ball with Napoli´s Leandro Rinaudo during their Italian Serie A soccer match at Artemio Franchi stadium in Florence, January 2009. Gilardino scored a winner a minute from time to boost Fiorentina´s Champions League qualification hopes following a 2-1 success at 10-man Atalanta.

ROME (AFP) - A disastrous own goal from Mauricio Isla handed Inter Milan a 1-0 victory at Udinese on Sunday and a nine-point lead atop Serie A.

Second-placed Juventus's slim title hopes suffered a huge blow as a Sergio Pellissier hat-trick earned Chievo a 3-3 draw in a thrilling match in Turin.

But just two weeks before the crucial title decider between Juve and Inter in Turin, Jose Mourinho's champions extended their lead and with just eight games remaining they look certain to land a fourth straight scudetto crown.

But this victory was handed to them by Isla's horrendous error. As he ran back towards his own goal he ran onto the ball as France captain Patrick Vieira took it around goalkeeper Emanuele Benardi, only for the Udinese defender to inadvertently knock it into his own net.

Until then there had been little to separate the two sides.

The most controversial moment of the first half came when Udinese's Fabio Quagliarella crumpled to the ground in the box under a challenge from goalkeeper Julio Cesar, but the referee decided the forward had gone down too easily and waved away penalty appeals.

That was the only incident of note in a dire first 45 minutes but things improved after the break.

Gokhan Inler fired a shot just past the upright and Julio Cesar tipped a Quagliarella effort onto the roof of the net as the hosts pressed.

Up the other end Dejan Stankovic slid onto a teasing right-wing cross from Zlatan Ibrahimovic but saw his poke trickle just wide. But then 13 minutes from time came Isla's horror show to settle the match.

In Turin, Vincenzo Iaquinta's strike 11 minutes from time seemed to have earned the Old Lady a vital victory but Pellissier struck his third in injury time to earn Chievo their first ever point away to Juve.

For Chievo it continued their remarkable recent run that has seen them lose only once since the turn of the year having ended 2008 four points adrift at the bottom.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would score a hat-trick away to Juventus," said Pellissier.

"It was an incredible day, we could have won, they're a great team who managed to come back at us twice but at Chievo we believe, we want to stay up and thanks to a bit of luck, we got the draw.

"Scoring just one goal against Juve is amazing, they've got one of the best goalkeepers in the world and on top of that, I'd never scored a hat-trick before."

Pellissier's first two goals were carbon copies as the visitors split Juve's fragile defence with long balls forward from the right, allowing Pellissier to gallop through on goal.

Both times he got between centre-backs Giorgio Chiellini and Olof Mellberg, taking the ball around Gianluigi Buffon on 25 minutes and shooting across the goalkeeper on 44 minutes.

In between Chiellini had restored parity on 34 minutes with a thrashed left-foot volley, although Mauro Camoranesi's flick in the build up to set up the big defender was exquisite.

Camoranesi created all three Juve goals with the Argentine-born Italy midfielder's header back across goal on 53 minutes coming off three Chievo defenders before trickling over the line without a Juve forward in touching distance.

Eleven minutes from time Camoranesi crossed to the back post where Iaquinta continued his recent goalscoring run by heading back across Stefano Sorrentino.

But Chievo snatched a well-deserved point at the death as Pellissier met Antonio Langella's deep cross at the back post with a firm header.

Genoa kept their noses in front in the race for fourth place and the final Champions League qualification position as a late goal from Brazilian Thiago Motta earned them a 1-0 win at rock-bottom Reggina.

Fiorentina kept on Genoa's heels, just two points behind, as Alberto Gilardino scored a winner a minute from time in a 2-1 success at 10-man Atalanta.