Inter Milan's seemingly relentless march toward the Serie A title continued on Sunday with a comprehensive victory over one of their main title rivals.
Inter were at their dominant best as they won 2-0 at Fiorentina, confirming their coach Roberto Mancini's pre-match assertion that the Viola are themselves not ready to challenge for top honors.
Cesare Prandelli's young team simply were not as powerful or effective as their visitors and went down to a pair of first-half goals from Chilean Luis Jimenez and Argentine Julio Cruz.
Mancini had said before the match that Prandelli's team lacked the experience for this season but that they could develop in the future into a top class outfit.
And this defeat, Fiorentina's second of the season, saw them slump to seven points behind league leaders Inter, who also have a game in hand. Only Roma are keeping up with Inter at the moment.
"Yes, this Sunday could be a turning point," Mancini told Sky Sport. "Right now, Inter and Roma are the best two squads. Hopefully there will soon be another turning point and Roma will lose some points along the way."
Jimenez opened the scoring on 10 minutes, slotting home after running on to a through ball from the excellent Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
The Sweden forward was also the provider on the stroke of half time as he fed Cruz to squeeze the ball into the far corner of the net past French goalkeeper Sebastian Frey.
Ibrahimovic was unstoppable and could easily have had a hat trick on the day, but found Frey in inspired form.
Fiorentina's former Chelsea forward Adrian Mutu was not too disheartened by the result.
"Today we were up against a great team such as Inter. It's not gone well for us but nearly everyone has lost to the Nerazzurri [black-and-blues]," he said.
Inter's lead at the top of the table was pegged at three points by Roma who came out on top in an unlikely early-season title-battle against Udinese.
Roma took the lead after just 11 minutes in slightly fortuitous circumstances. Brazil center-back Juan got in the way of David Pizarro's effort from outside the box and the ball dropped kindly for him to poke home past Samir Handanovic in the Udinese goal.
But a minute later and Udinese were level through former Manchester United target Fabio Quagliarella, who flicked the ball up, swivelled and fired home from outside the box.
Udinese also put the ball in the net on 25 minutes but Quagliarella was adjudged offside and two minutes later, Roma scored the winner.
Udinese stay fourth while Juventus are third in the table, five points behind Inter.
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