Internazionale moved to the top of Serie A after a 4-1 win over Roma, who played with 10 men for over an hour at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday.
Roma, Manchester United’s Champions League opponents tomorrow, who started the day level on points with Inter, were always going to struggle after Ludovic Giuly was shown a red card for handball 28 minutes in. Giuly palmed away Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s goal-bound strike and, to compound his misery, the Sweden striker scored the penalty.
An error from Maxwell early in the second half then gifted Simone Perrotta an equaliser for the hosts, but Roberto Mancini’s side restored their advantage only four minutes later courtesy of Hernan Crespo’s strike. Moments later the game was effectively over as a contest when Julio Cruz scored a third, while central defender Ivan Cordoba added a fourth.
Yesterday, Kaka’s second-half penalty earned Milan a 1-1 draw with Sicilian minnows Catania at the San Siro as the European champions’ poor domestic form continued. Milan, who visit Celtic in the Champions League on Wednesday, have not won in Serie A since their opening-day victory at Genoa five games ago.
Kaka levelled the scores after Uruguayan midfielder Jorge Martinez had headed the visitors in front in the 25th minute.
In Germany, Luca Toni tapped in a Miroslav Klose cross just before half-time to give unbeaten Bayern Munich a 1-0 victory in a top-of-the-table match at Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
France midfielder Franck Ribery headed over to Germany striker Klose, who spun around defender Manuel Friedrich on the left and sent a pinpoint cross to Toni streaking into the middle for the match-winner in the 40th minute.
Bayern lead the table by four points from Shalke 04, the only other unbeaten side in the league, while Leverkusen slip to fourth. Schalke beat Hertha Berlin 1-0 on Friday.
Further Reading
Source: sport.independent.co.uk
