Zlatan Ibrahimovic ignored the cacophony of boos to give AC Milan a deserved 1-0 win over his troubled former side Inter and send the Rossoneri back to the top of Serie A to the horror of their city rivals.
The chances of Inter winning an unprecedented sixth successive scudetto were greatly reduced by Ibrahimovic’s fifth-minute penalty after the Swede was recklessly fouled by Inter’s ageing defender Marco Materazzi.
Just 12 games into the season, Milan look favorites to win their first title since 2004, given their six-point advantage over fifth-placed Inter and the continuing brittle form of the treble winners.
PHOTO: AFP
Coach Massimiliano Allegri triumphed in his first derby, despite having fullback Ignazio Abate sent off with half an hour left and the pressure intensified on his Inter counterpart Rafael Benitez, also overseeing his first all-city clash.
“We put in great work and great sacrifice in the second half with a man down, we played with huge heart,” said Ibrahimovic, who accidentally injured Materazzi in a second-half clash. “There are lots of games to go and there is a bit of an advantage, but we’ll play each game as it comes.”
The defeat in what counted as an Inter home game in the shared San Siro, packed with 80,000 noisy fans, was the champions’ first home league loss in over two and a half years.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Milan, who substituted the pumped-up Gennaro Gattuso at the break to avoid a dismissal, but left Ronaldinho on the bench, had the better chances, with Ibrahimovic spectacularly volleying over to remind Inter fans of the skill he used to wow them with.
Injury-hit Inter started with a new 4-3-1-2 formation, but they failed to gel and Benitez was soon regretting the inclusion of 37-year-old Materazzi for his first league appearance this season.
Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt watched on in the stands, but Inter lacked pace and urgency, despite decent pressure in the latter stages.
A controversial Mauro Zarate goal helped second-placed SS Lazio, a point behind Milan, recover from two straight defeats with a 2-0 victory over Napoli.
Argentine Zarate appeared to use an arm when he grabbed the opener on 15 minutes, before fellow striker Sergio Floccari doubled the lead in the second half from a Zarate assist.
Third-placed Napoli had seen the game as a key test for their title credentials, but failed to impose themselves.
Sampdoria drew 0-0 with Chievo to slip to 10th after again missing the influence of forward Antonio Cassano, dropped by the club for swearing at the president and facing an arbitration hearing soon on his future at the Genoa-based side.
Samp have scored once in five games since his suspension.
Argentina playmaker Javier Pastore increased his burgeoning worth with three goals in seventh-placed Palermo’s 3-1 win over Catania in the Sicilian derby.
Early season strugglers Udinese continued their surge up the table and are level with Palermo and Genoa, who won 1-0 at Cagliari, after last season’s top scorer in Serie A Antonio Di Natale bagged a first-half hat-trick in a 4-0 home romp over Lecce.
Bari stayed bottom after a 1-0 home loss to improving Parma, while Bologna overcame promoted Brescia 1-0.
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Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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