ROME – Udinese ended Leonardo’s perfect record since taking over as Inter Milan coach from Rafael Benitez with a 3-1 win over the Italian champions in a lively encounter in Serie A on Sunday.
Inter, aiming for a sixth straight win since the Brazilian’s arrival in the San Siro dugout, took the lead after quarter of an hour through Dejan Stankovic. Udinese then stunned Inter with goals from Cristian Zapata and Antonio Di Natale – his 15th of the season – to go into the break 2-1 up, with Maurizio Domizzi adding a third midway through the second half.
The result left Udinese treading water in eighth, although they made up ground to within one point of seventh-placed Palermo, while Inter remained fifth on 35 points, six adrift of leaders AC Milan who tackle Cesena in Sunday’s late game. Giving his reaction to his first loss in charge Leonardo told Inter’s official website: “In football you lose games; it’s no big deal.
It won’t change the way we see things and it won’t change the way I see the team.” “We got off to a great start,” he added. “Taking the lead at a stadium like this and against a team like Udinese was no mean feat, so I don’t think it was a case of us making mistakes or losing our concentration. “Perhaps we were a bit tense because of how a few things went. The first half was an evenly balanced affair but Udinese had the upper hand in the second half.
“However, I must say that hardly any of the goals we’ve conceded from set pieces have been because we were caught out by the opposition; most have been because of a lucky deflection or rebound. So I don’t think we have a problem with man-marking at set pieces. “Full credit to the opposition – they are capable of hurting any team.”
For Udinese, it was their first win over Inter in 14 attempts. Napoli replaced Roma in second place after a 2-0 win at Bari which put them a point behind Milan but they have played a game more. Argentina’s Ezequiel Lavezzi fired Napoli in front with a 38th-minute free-kick before Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani added the second, three minutes from time with his 14th goal of the season. Lazio stayed in fourth place after crashing to a shock 3-1 defeat at Bologna.
Five-star United cruise, Bent downs City: Dimitar Berbatov struck a hat-trick to cement Manchester United’s lead at the top of the Premier League on Saturday as Darren Bent scored on his Aston Villa debut to derail Manchester City’s title push. Berbatov took his goals tally for the season to 18 in all competitions as Birmingham were crushed 5-0 at Old Trafford, evergreen midfielder Ryan Giggs and Nani scoring the other goals for the Red Devils.
“Dimitar was marvellous,” United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said. “He could have scored more and we were a bit wasteful at times with our finishing but you can’t complain at that performance, that was the important thing.” In the late kick-off, Villa’s 24-million-pound signing Bent struck on 18 minutes against City to give Gerard Houllier’s side a precious 1-0 win. Bent, a surprise departure from Sunderland, has now scored on his debut for three clubs, having struck goals in his first games for Charlton, Sunderland, and now Villa.
“His finishing touch was just like a natural-born goalscorer,” said Houllier. “It’s something that we can’t teach because he was full of composure, so that’s what he’s here for to score goals.” City assistant manager Brian Kidd was convinced his side would recover from the setback. “Our aim at the beginning of this season was to get in the top four. We lost at Everton and responded very well and I’m sure we will respond in the right fashion in the coming games,” said Kidd.
