An inspired substitution from coach Jose Mourinho allowed Inter Milan to stay top of the Serie A table with a 1-0 victory over Lecce at the San Siro on Wednesday.
The champions had dominated from start to finish but Lecce looked like they would frustrate them right to the end until substitute Julio Cruz fired home from just inside the area.
Sweden forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic came closest to breaking the deadlock in the first half with a thundering free-kick that crashed back off the bar with goalkeeper Francesco Benussi well beaten.
PHOTO: EPA
After the break Mourinho threw caution to the wind, bringing on Cruz as a third striker for left-back Cristian Chivu and the gamble paid off as the Argentine netted seven minutes after his introduction.
Lazio continued to be the surprise team of the season with a stunning 3-0 success over Fiorentina to take them up to second.
The capital based club scored all three goals in a stunning eight-minute period at the beginning of the second period.
PHOTO: AFP
Stefano Mauri opened the scoring on 51 minutes with an overhead kick from two yards out after Argentine striker Mauro Zarate’s header from Pasquale Foggia’s deep left-wing cross came back off the bar.
Four minutes later Macedonia striker Goran Pandev pounced on a mistake in the La Viola backline to fire home the second with hisleft foot and four minutes after that Sebastiano Siviglia won a free header in the box to add the third.
Juventus dropped to fifth as they were held to a 1-1 home draw by Sicilians Catania.
Brazilian Amauri scored for the third league game in a row, heading home a pinpoint cross from talented young winger Sebastian Giovinco on 16 minutes.
At Reggina, AC Milan continued their recent improvement with their third win in a row, and second in the league, with a 2-1 success.
Coach Carlo Ancelotti started with both high profile summer signings Ronaldinho and Andrei Shevchenko on the bench and former Genoa forward Marco Borriello justified his inclusion from the start by heading home a Clarence Seedorf free-kick on 16 minutes.
Ancelotti defended his decision despite Borriello limping out in the second half, which may see him miss Sunday’s derby against Inter. But he suggested both his big stars may start against the champions.
“You’d have to be crazy to think that once Ronaldinho is back to full fitness he won’t be a match-winner,” he said. “I hope he’ll be back soon. The derby is a match that inspires. He and Shevchenko? I like challenges.”
Italian Serie A results on Wednesday:
• Atalanta 1 (Floccari 79), Cagliari 0
• Bologna 0, Udinese 3 (D’Agostino 13-pen, Floro Flores 20, Pepe 73)
• Chievo 1 (Marcolini 50), Torino 1 (Bianchi 40-pen)
• Genoa 3 (Sculli 4, Milito 61, 88), AS Roma 1 (De Rossi 28)
• Inter Milan 1 (Cruz 79), Lecce 0
• Juventus 1 (Amauri 16), Catania 1 (Plasmati 68)
• Lazio 3 (Mauri 51, Pandev 55, Siviglia 59), Fiorentina 0
• Napoli 2 (Hamsik 14, Zalayeta 75), Palermo 1 (Miccoli 83-pen)
• Reggina 1 (Corradi 59), AC Milan 2 (Borriello 24, Pato 73)
• Siena 0, Sampdoria 0
■ SCOTTISH LEAGUE CUP
AFP, GLASGOW
Rangers boss Walter Smith hailed a last-ditch League Cup win over Partick Thistle as proof of the quality in his squad.
First division Partick looked set to take the third round tie to penalties after Stephen McKeown had canceled out Kris Boyd’s stunning early volley.
But the trophy holders sealed their progress to the last eight thanks to a superb, swerving strike from midfielder Pedro Mendes five minutes from the second period of extra-time.
“Kris’ goal was terrific, one of those where you were wondering what he was going to do. It was a great finish and that’s just what Kris Boyd does,” Smith said.
“Pedro’s goal was a good one as well. It took that to win the game and it was always going to take a couple of terrific goals to go through. It was a relief to go through and it was a really good cup tie that looked like it was going to go to penalties. We knew it was going to be tough,” Smith said.
Smith went on to back Thistle’s bid to join his side in Scotland’s top flight next season.
“They are one of the favorites to go up and I’m sure if they keep playing like that they will do it. They played like an SPL team and we were very happy to get through.”
Partick boss Ian McCall said Mendes’ late winner had left him “gutted.”
“Their winning goal was a hell of a finish and that’s why they get paid so much, I suppose,” he said.
Scottish League Cup results on Wednesday:
Third round:
• Kilmarnock 4 (Sammon 2, 33, Fernandez 12, Taouil 17-pen), Aberdeen 2 (McDonald 6, Miller 26-pen)
• Motherwell 1 (Murphy 66), Hamilton 2 (Graham 53, Ettien 95) AET
• Partick 1 (McKeown 36), Rangers 2 (Boyd 25, Mendes 116) AET
■ FRENCH LEAGUE CUP
AFP, PARIS
Holders Paris Saint Germain beat Monaco, while Marseille lost to bogey team Sochaux and St Etienne were thrashed 4-1 by second division bottom club Guingamp in French League Cup action on Wednesday.
Reigning champions PSG, excluded then reinstated for this season’s event following an insulting banner in last year’s final, beat Monaco 1-0 thanks to striker Fabrice Pancrate’s 35th minute goal at the Stade Louis II stadium in the Principality.
Marseille, second in the French first division, were meanwhile dumped out of the competition 1-0 by first division bottom club Sochaux who scored through their Turkey international Mevlut Erding. It was Sochaux’s first win in nearly six months, their last being at Auxerre on April 5.
However, Marseille coach Eric Gerets had used virtually a B team, leaving Mamadou Niang, Karim Ziani, Benoit Cheyrou and Vitorino Hilton on the substitutes bench.
French League Cup results on Wednesday:
Round of 32
• Monaco 0, Paris Saint Germain 1
• Montpellier 2, Lille 2 AET, Montpellier win 4-2 on penalties
• Metz 3, Troyes 1
• Grenoble 2, Nancy 3 AET
• Guingamp 4, St-Etienne 1
• Le Havre 3, Caen 1 AET
• Lorient 0, Lens 3
• Rennes 2, Le Mans 2 AET
• Sochaux 1, Marseille 0
Third round
• Vannes 3, Valenciennes 3 AET, Vannes win 5-4 on penalties
• Boulogne-sur-Mer 1, Nice 3
• Bastia 0, Chateauroux 1
• Creteil 1, Nantes 0
• Auxerre 1, Toulouse 1 AET, Auxerre win 6-5 on penalties
■ PRIMERA LIGA
AFP, MADRID
Rafael van der Vaart endeared himself to the Real Madrid fans with a hat-trick as the champions crushed Sporting Gijon 7-1 on Wednesday to go second in the table.
Dutch midfielder van der Vaart netted twice in the first half before wrapping up his treble on 47 minutes.
Poor Sporting had been crushed 6-1 by Barcelona in their last match and Real went one better with skipper Raul grabbing brace and further goals from Gonzalo Higuain and Arjen Robben.
Ironically Real rested key players — such as Sergio Ramos and Ruud van Nistelrooy — but were still far too good for pointless Sporting and the title holders now trail Villarreal by a point at the summit.
Barcelona are three points off the lead in fifth after Eidur Gudjohnsen scored an 80th minute winner to down Real Betis 3-2 as they notched their first home win this season.
Samuel Eto’o reached a landmark 100 goals in Barca colors with a brace to put Barca two goals up at the interval but Betis launched a sterling second half comeback to draw the scores level only for substitute Gudjohnsen to break their hearts with a late winner.
Spanish league results on Wednesday:
• Barcelona 3 (Eto’o 17, 22, Gudjohnsen 80), Real Betis 2 (Monzon 59, Jose Mari 67)
• Villarreal 2 (Capdevila 28, Llorente 32), Racing Santander 0
• Osasuna 0, Deportivo La Coruna 0
• Getafe 1 (Albin 75), Atletico de Madrid 2 (Pongolle 29, Cortes 82-og)
• Real Madrid 7 (Van der Vaart 18, 33, 47, Higuain 36, Robben 51, Raul 58, 64), Sporting Gijon 1 (Mateo 53)
• Sevilla 2 (Maresca 56, Chevanton 85), Espanyol 0
■ GERMAN CUP
AFP, BERLIN
Germany striker Miroslav Klose proved last week’s leg injury is behind him as defending German Cup holders Bayern Munich beat last year’s champions Nuremberg 2-0 in Wednesday night’s second-round tie.
Klose, the top scorer at the 2006 World Cup, slammed home his shot on seven minutes to show he has recovered from the bruised knee he suffered in his side’s 1-0 Champions League win at Steaua Bucharest the week before.
And Klose’s die Mannschaft team-mate Tim Borowski scored his third goal in two games on 69 minutes to put the holders into the third round.
Nuremberg, who were relegated to the Bundesliga’s second division last season, rarely troubled the Bayern defense as the home side picked up a confidence booster after their 5-2 mauling by Werder Bremen last weekend.
“The 2-0 result was okay,” Bayern coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. “We could have scored one or two more goals, but the pleasing thing is we are in the next round after the shock at the weekend. “We have a few big games ahead of us and it was important to make a few changes and use the squad, which is what we did in the second half.”
German Cup results on Wednesday:
Second round:
• Kickers Offenbach 0, Karlsruhe 2 (Iashvili 45, Porcello 58)
• Oberneuland 0, VfL Wolfsburg 7 (Dzeko 15, 20, 57, 75, Schaefer 26, Dejagah 67, Caiuby 89)
• SV Wehen Wiesbaden 1 (Koenig 72), Alemannia Aachen 0
• Borussia Dortmund 2 (Frei 7-pen, Klimowicz 104), Hertha Berlin 1 (Pantelic 22) AET
• Hamburg 2 (Petric 9, 90), VfL Bochum 0
• Carl Zeis Jena 1 (N Petersen 25), FSV Frankfurt 0
• VfB Stuttgart 2 (Cacau 17, Marica 65), Arminia Bielfeld 0
• SC Freiburg 3 (Schwaab 68-pen, Tuerker 84, Idrissou 89-pen), Hoffenheim 1 (Salihovic 36-pen)
• Bayern Munich 2 (Klose 7, Borowski 69), Nuremberg 0
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