Mancini joyous at lucky Roma draw

ROME: Inter Milan coach Roberto Mancini couldn't contain his joy after his side scraped a 1-1 home draw against AS Roma to maintain its nine-point lead at the top of Serie A.

Francesco Totti gave Roma a deserved first-half lead with a near-post flick from a sumptuous left-wing cross from Max Tonetto.

Inter was reduced to 10 men just past the hour mark after Brazilian left-back Maxwell was stretchered off just moments after Mancini made his third substitution.

But following the late and harsh dismisal of Roma's French centreback Philippe Mexes, Inter captain Javier Zanetti rifled home a right-foot volley two minutes from time to earn a share of the spoils the league leaders didn't deserve.

It means Inter still leads Roma by nine points at the top with Juventus, which drew 0-0 at home to Torino in the Turin derby on Tuesday, third a further four points back.

"It's a draw that's worth a victory for the way it was earned," Mancini told Sky Sport.

"Totti scored with their first chance on goal and then that shaped the course of the match. It was very difficult for us with 10 men."

Roma coach Luciano Spalletti was livid with the sending off of Mexes, whose second booking looked ridiculously harsh.

"Speaking reasonably and without anger I have to say that one of Mexes's (bookings) was definitely not a foul," he said.

"It was unfair because the second booking wasn't deserved. Did that turn the game? Well, a goal followed on from it," Spalletti said before suggesting Inter forward Hernan Crespo's theatrical tumble to the ground under minimal contact from Mexes had duped the referee.

In Sicily European champion AC Milan was held to a 1-1 draw by Catania and lost fourth place to Fiorentina, which beat Livorno 1-0 at home thanks to a goal from Senegal forward Ndiaye Papa Waigo.

It was a strange match in Catania. After an insipid first half with little action and no goals, it sprung to life after the break.

Teenage Brazilian forward Pato gave Milan the lead with a long-range shot that Cirlo Polito should have saved.

Substitute Gionathan Spinesi salvaged a draw for Catania but it had two goals disallowed. Milan also had one chalked off and eight yellow cards were dished out by the referee.

Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti was disappointed at the two dropped points.

"We've missed an opportunity here, we went in front but we didn't manage to see out an important result," he said.

"I'm sorry about the situation we created for ourselves. We were taken by surprise by the goal."

Ancelotti complained that tiredness was starting to get to his players, who have played three more league matches since the turn of the year than any of their Serie A rivals due to a fixture backlog related to their involvement in the Club World Cup in December.

"We can't do any more at the moment, we have too many matches and we can't manage them all. Some of our most important players need to rest, that's the point.

"The team is not firing on all cylinders at the moment."

AFP

(China Daily 02/29/2008 page22)