Inter go nine points clear as Roma slip up
MILAN: Inter Milan's grip on the Serie A title tightened considerably on Sunday after closest rivals Roma were held to a 1-1 draw at Messina.
Roma were in command after Brazilian winger Mancini had broken the deadlock with a low drive six minutes before half time.
But a series of missed chances came back to haunt them when Christian Chivu conceded an 89th-minute penalty by needlessly clattering into Arturo Di Napoli.
Alessandro Parisi tucked away the spot-kick before being sent off for a second yellow card.
A draw left Roma in second place on 42 points, nine behind Inter at the halfway stage of the season.
Reigning champions Inter had opened up a 10-point gap on Saturday by winning 3-1 at Torino for their 12th consecutive league win - a new Serie A record.
Roma coach Luciano Spalletti could not hide his disappointment at seeing his team throw away two valuable points.
"There's a certain amount of bitterness because my team performed really well and only came away with a point, and that's not enough," he said.
"The penalty was annoying, but everybody makes mistakes.
"We had enough opportunities to kill the match, but we didn't take them. On another day we would have won this match 4-0."
Palermo are four points behind Roma in third place after defeating Udinese 2-0 in Sicily.
Lazio and Catania share the fourth and final Champions league spot on 26 points, but both were kicking themselves after throwing away leads and ending up with disappointing results.
Lazio drew 1-1 at home to Siena and Catania lost 2-1 at Chievo.
AC Milan, hit with an eight-point penalty for match-fixing, continued their ascent with an unconvincing 3-1 home win over Reggina.
Milan surged ahead with goals from Andrea Pirlo and Clarence Seedorf before Rolando's Banchi's rasping 25-yard shot reopened the contest for the visiting Calabrians.
Reggina were enjoying their best spell of the match when Alberto Gilardino finished off a swift counter-attack with an angled shot to ease Milan's jitters.
Cristiano Doni scored twice as Atalanta thumped Livorno 5-1 in Bergamo. The result cost Livorno coach Daniele Arrigoni his job as the Tuscany club extended their winless streak to seven matches.
AFP
(China Daily 01/16/2007 page23)
