Two goals in the first five minutes helped Inter Milan ease to the top of Serie A with a 3-1 win over Napoli on Wednesday.
Inter coach Jose Mourinho was banned from the bench after being sent to the stands in Sunday’s 2-1 win at Cagliari, but the champions produced a roaring San Siro start without him.
Samuel Eto’o tapped in the first after Walter Samuel headed on a corner and strike partner Diego Milito soon beat the offside trap to score his fifth in five league games this term.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Lucio nodded in another corner after the half hour mark with Ezequiel Lavezzi pulling one back for Roberto Donadoni’s side, who have picked up just four points so far despite spending big.
Inter went above this Saturday’s opponents Sampdoria, who dropped points for the first time this term when headers from Stevan Jovetic and Alberto Gilardino either side of the break sealed Fiorentina’s 2-0 home win.
AC Milan’s inconsistent start to the campaign continued with a 1-0 loss at Udinese, where Antonio Di Natale scored midway through the first half.
Mauricio Isla broke into the Milan box and when his effort came back off the post, Di Natale could not fail to score.
The Italy striker also struck the post while Milan, who started with Ronaldinho on the bench and had Mathieu Flamini dismissed for a second booking late on, hit the bar through Alessandro Nesta’s header.
Francesco Totti converted a late penalty to give AS Roma a thrilling 3-3 draw at Palermo in pouring Sicilian rain.
The pitch was so waterlogged that the ball often became stuck in puddles but Totti made sure he blasted the spotkick home.
Bottom side Atalanta drew 0-0 at home to Catania in Antonio Conte’s first match in charge, which was slightly marred by scuffles between rival supporters in Bergamo before kickoff.
Conte was also sent to the stands for protesting late on.
■GERMAN CUP
AFP, BERLIN
There were three big upsets in the German Cup’s second round on Wednesday as defending Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg, current league leaders Hamburg and Bayer Leverkusen were all dumped out.
Having beaten Stuttgart on Saturday to lift themselves off the bottom of the Bundesliga, Cologne claimed the scalp of Wolfsburg as Nigeria striker Manasseh Ishiaku scored two first-half goals in a 3-2 victory.
Wolfsburg striker Edin Dzeko pulled one back for the visitors in the 54th minute. Then Cologne’s Germany striker Lukas Podolski played a through ball to fellow forward Sebastian Freis, who made it 3-1 on 65 minutes before defender Sascha Riether pulled back another goal for Wolfsburg less than a minute later.
Dzeko missed a glorious chance to equalize and his coach Armin Veh was so incensed he earned himself a red card and was dismissed to the stands.
Bundesliga leaders Hamburg suffered a huge upset when they lost on penalties at third division Osnabrueck after the game finished 3-3 following extra-time.
Hertha Berlin, who are bottom of the Bundesliga table after last weekend’s crushing 4-0 defeat at home to Freiburg, suffered further humiliation when they also lost on penalties at second-division Munich 1860.
Having found themselves 2-0 down, two goals in the last 15 minutes from Hertha took the game to extra time before the match was decided by a penalty shoot-out as the home side won 4-1 to book their place in the third round.
Defending German Cup champions Werder Bremen needed a late winner from Brazil defender Naldo in the 82nd minute to be sure of their place in the third round with a 2-1 win against second division St Pauli.
And Stuttgart — who dropped ex-Germany goalkeeper Jens Lehmann for visiting Munich’s Oktoberfest after his side lost to Cologne in the German league on Saturday — needed extra time to win 3-1 at minnows Luebeck.
Schalke 04 had few problems in the Ruhr valley derby against Bochum with a 3-0 win as defender Heiko Westermann and striker Halil Altintop scored for the Royal Blues before the home side conceded an own goal through Christian Fuchs.
Eintracht Trier striker Sahr Senesie wrapped up his hat-trick in injury time for the minnows as they beat second-division Arminia Bielefeld 4-2 after extra-time.
Bundesliga side Nuremberg crashed out as they were beaten 1-0 by Hoffenheim.
Borussia Moenchengladbach also exited when they lost 1-0 to Duisburg having conceded an injury time goal from Belgium’s Kristoffer Andersen, who scored against his old club.
■FOOTBALL LEAGUE CUP
REUTERS, LONDON
Holders Manchester United overcame the 29th-minute sending-off of teenaged Brazilian defender Fabio Da Silva to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 in the third round of the League Cup on Wednesday.
League leaders Chelsea made it eight wins out of eight in competitive games with a 1-0 win over west London neighbors Queens Park Rangers, Peter Crouch bagged a hat-trick as Tottenham Hotspur won 5-1 at Preston North End and Everton put Phil Brown’s future in jeopardy by thrashing Hull City 4-0 away.
Aston Villa beat Cardiff City 1-0, while a near-full strength Manchester City needed extra time to beat Fulham 2-1.
The draw for the fourth round takes place on Saturday.
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