Inter scored three first half goals to beat Udinese 3-2 away on Sunday and maintain a four point lead at the top of Serie A.
Mario Balotelli, Maicon and Diego Milito scored after Simone Pepe had given Udinese an early lead. Antonio Di Natale converted a penalty shortly after the restart, but Jose Mourinho’s team held on for the win.
Inter are top with 58 points, four ahead of AC Milan, with AS Roma third on 51. Palermo moved up to fourth with 43 points after a 2-0 win at Juventus, courtesy of goals from Fabio Miccoli and Igor Budan.
Milan comfortably beat Atalanta 3-1. Alexandre Pato scored twice in the first half, Jaime Valdes responded for Atalanta, but Marco Borriello found the net to secure the win for Milan.
Roma lost ground in their pursuit of Milan with a 2-2 draw at Napoli. Julio Baptista and Mirko Vucinic put Roma 2-0 ahead, but German Denis brought Napoli back into the match in the 75th minute and Marek Hamsik scored an injury time penalty for a share of the points.
Also on Sunday, it was; Chievo Verona 2, Cagliari 1; Genoa 3, Bologna 4; Livorno 1, Siena 2 and Parma 1, Sampdoria 0.
Udinese, just two places above the relegation zone, took the lead in the second minute when Di Natale slipped a through ball to Pepe, who ran behind Maicon and shot past Inter goalkeeper Julio Cesar.
Inter leveled four minutes later, with Balotelli unleashing a shot from outside the area, before Maicon atoned for his earlier error by putting Inter into the lead, linking up with Milito and Pandev to fire home.
Milito grabbed the third in first half injury time, glancing a header past Handanovic.
Di Natale pulled a goal back for Udinese with a penalty in the 52nd minute.
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