Monday, December 14, 2009

Atalanta 1-1 Inter Milan


Inter Milan extended their lead at the top of Serie A to five points despite being held by struggling Atalanta.

Diego Milito gave the Nerazzurri the lead in the 14th minute, but Simone Tiribocchi equalised for the hosts in the 81st minute after Wesley Sneijder's 64th-minute red card had put Inter on the back foot.

With second-placed AC Milan and Juventus, who are third, both losing this weekend, the draw was still enough for Jose Mourinho's side to strengthen their hold on top spot.

Despite battling back to take point, Atalanta dropped into the bottom three, two points behind Livorno.

Mourinho opted to field a three-man attack featuring Mario Balotelli, Samuel Eto'o and Milito.

Sneijder also found room in Mourinho's adventurous starting XI, with Inter clearly intent on taking full advantage of Juve's 3-1 defeat at Bari last night to move a step closer to a fifth consecutive title.

But it was far from plain sailing for the defending champions as the home side made a better start.

Esteban Cambiasso almost scored an own goal as he diverted Gianpaolo Bellini's shot towards his own net, but Julio Cesar showed excellent reactions to spare his team-mate's blushes in the 11th minute.

Inter went ahead with their first chance of the game in the 14th minute, Milito using all his strength to find a way past four Atalanta defenders before coolly slotting home his 10th goal of the season.

Sneijder came close to adding a second in the 33rd minute when the Dutchman's free-kick came back off the crossbar.

Just as in the first half, the first chance of the second 45 minutes fell to the hosts, and it was another effort from Bellini which was diverted towards goal by Ferreira Pinto and then almost into his own net by Inter defender Ivan Cordoba.

Lucio saw a 53rd-minute header disallowed for offside, but Inter's one-goal lead did not look under any real threat, until Sneijder picked up a second yellow card to leave Inter with 10 men for the last 25 minutes.

And Atalanta took advantage of their numerical superiority as Tiribocchi brought the home side level.

Fabio Caserta's through-ball left the Atalanta striker with plenty of work still to do, but his first touch was excellent as he set himself up perfectly to place his shot past Julio Cesar and into the bottom corner with nine minutes to play.

The last chance of the game fell to Inter's Thiago Motta, but Ferdinando Coppola made a fine save with his leg to deny the Brazilian and to prevent Inter from taking all three points.

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