Inter crash at home, fall behind in Serie A

By Alberto Cagliano Feb 12, 2012, 16:00 GMT

Rome - Inter Milan were stunned 1-0 at home against bottom side Novara Sunday to suffer a second defeat from their last three outings in the Serie A.

Champions AC Milan came from behind to snatch a 2-1 win at Udinese Saturday and go top two points clear of Juventus, who have two games in hand after their late Sunday visit at Bologna was postponed because of heavy snow.

The Nerazzurri, who had already lost 3-1 to Novara early in the season, had their best chances in the first half with drives from Wesley Sneijder, but also ran risks from a header and a break by Andrea Caracciolo.

The tall forward was flawless after the break as he controlled a feed on the edge of the box and curled a precise drive to beat Julio Cesar into the far corner.

Riccardo Pazzini and Diego Forlan came on to man Inter's attack next to Diego Milito as the guests threatened again with counter-attack efforts from Michel Morganella and Marco Rigoni.

The tail-enders held out despite the dismissal of Serb Ivan Radovanovic after a second booking with 10 minutes left and took home three points as Sneijder saw his smashing drive come off the bar and Pazzini fired centrally from close range.

'I am very happy for the team and the fans,' Caracciolo said. 'We did something great in a game where no one expected it. We want to save ourselves, we showed it also (drawing 0-0) at Cagliari. Inter are a team of champions, but we were very good today.'

In the remaining Sunday games, Catania crushed Genoa 4-0 with a brace from Argentine Pablo Barrientos and Atalanta and Lecce drew 0-0, while Parma v Fiorentina was also postponed.

On Thursday, Lazio moved to third place, leapfrogging Udinese and Inter, as they rallied with 10 men to clinch a 3-2 win against Cesena.

Cagliari beat Palermo 2-1 late Saturday, while Napoli v Chievo and Siena Roma are set for Monday.