ROME - Defending champions Inter Milan clinched their first victory of the Serie A season on Saturday with a controversial 2-1 win at the San Siro over Catania despite being reduced to 10 men.
Inter, who travel to Panathinaikos in their Champions League opener on Tuesday, had Ghana international striker Sulley Muntari red-carded late in the first half.
They had already fallen behind to a headed goal from Gianvito Plasmati three minutes before half-time, although the strike was greeted with silence as Catania fans had been banned from travelling as part of a nationwide crackdown on hooliganism.
Inter, coached by former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, levelled two minutes from the interval when Portuguese import Ricardo Quaresma marked his debut with a deflected goal.
Muntari was then sent-off after flinging an arm into the face of Giacomo Tedesco. The winning goal came five minutes after the break in controversial circumstances.
A corner kick came off the head of Catania's Cristian Terlizzi and hit the the inside of the far post into goalkeeper Albano Bizzarri's hands.
Despite Catania's protests, the referee and linesman both ruled the ball had crossed the line and awarded the goal.
The win put Inter, who drew their opener 1-1 with Sampdoria, on top of the table but they will likely be overtaken when the weekend programme is completed on Sunday.
Meanwhile, AS Roma's build-up to their opening Champions League clash suffered a setback when they crashed 3-1 at Palermo.
The defeat, coming on the back of a 1-1 draw with Napoli two weeks ago, was the worst preparation for Tuesday's European match against Romania's Cluj.
Roma took the lead through Julio Baptista after just eight minutes following a flowing move, but they eventually paid a heavy price for being without injured skipper Francesco Totti and striker Mirko Vucinic who pulled out with a back injury just before kick-off.
They were also without Philippe Mexes, Juan and Simone Perrotta and then lost Daniele De Rossi with a neck injury later in the game.
Palermo, with new coach Davide Ballardini having replaced Stefano Colantuono, levelled through a Fabrizio Miccoli drive in the 20th minute after being set-up by Brazilian midfielder Fabio Simplicio.
Miccoli added a second for Palermo in the 56th minute with Edison Cavani scoring the third in the 72nd minute.
"We played below our capabilities at some times, while in others we did quite well without converting the chances," said Roma coach Luciano Spalletti.
"There is little to complain about, as we lost by a clear margin in terms of the result, but that did not reflect what I saw in the match overall."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment