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Inter Milan fight back for draw

By Simon Evans
November 29, 2004 11:39 IST

Inter Milan fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with leaders Juventus in the 'Derby d'Italia' at the San Siro stadium with Brazilian Adriano grabbing an 85th minute equaliser.

Although the result means Inter maintain their record as the only unbeaten side in Serie A, their 11th draw from 13 matches leaves them down in seventh place still 15 points behind Juve.

The happiest team on Sunday were second placed AC Milan who won 1-0 at Chievo with a Hernan Crespo goal and were able to close the gap on Juve to four points.

Juve have 32 points, Milan are on 28 and Udinese, who won 2-1 at Livorno on Saturday, are in third place on 22 points.

Cagliari moved up to fourth after a 3-2 win at Lazio with former Italy forward Gianfranco Zola on target for the Sardinians.

After a scrappy first half, Juve went ahead in the 53rd minute when a long-range shot from European Footballer of the Year Pavel Nedved deflected off Uruguayan striker Marcelo Zalayeta and beat the wrong-footed Francesco Toldo.

Juve then doubled their lead when a goal-bound Zalayeta was brought down inside the area by Toldo and Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic squeezed his penalty under Toldo.

RADICAL MOVE

Inter coach Roberto Mancini responded with a radical double substitution, taking off Dutch midfielders Andy van der Meyde and Edgar Davids and throwing on forwards Christian Vieri and Alvaro Recoba to create a four-pronged attack.

The move paid off in the 79th minute when Vieri fired home a fine diagonal shot from the left to bring Inter back into the game and then five minutes from the end Adriano volleyed in a cross from

Nigerian Obafemi Martins.

It was no surprise that the prolific Adriano, who has 10 league goals so far, proved to be the saviour for Inter. But for Milan's Crespo this has been the week when he defied critics who had written him off.

The striker, on loan from English leaders Chelsea, had not scored until last week's Italian Cup win at Palermo but now has four goals in three games after his Champions League double against Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday and the winner against Chievo.

The Verona outfit caused Milan plenty of problems, especially in the first half when Simone Tiribocchi and Roberto Baronio both hit the post.

Milan also created plenty, with Crespo and then Clarence Seedorf both going close, but it took a stroke of luck for them to break through five minutes after the break.

Kaka burst forward from midfield and the ball ricocheted straight into the path of Crespo who fired home with a first time shot.

Eight minutes later Dida produced a remarkable acrobatic save to tip over a deflected free-kick from Baronio.

Lazio coach Domenico Caso is under pressure after his side slumped to a 3-2 defeat at home to Cagliari.

Goran Pandev put Lazio ahead in the seventh minute but the impressive Antonio Langella brought the visitors level before the break.

Lazio had goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi sent off for a 'professional foul' in the 57th minute and Cagliari took full advantage with goals from Mauro Esposito and Zola making it 3-1.

Massimo Oddo pulled a goal back from the penalty spot 10 minutes from the end but the defeat leaves Lazio down in 13th place.

Simon Evans
Source: REUTERS
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