Italy: Inter Milan drops Juventus to stay atop Serie A

FLORENCE, Italy (AP) -- Sulley Muntari scored a second-half goal Saturday to give Inter Milan a 1-0 win over Juventus to stay top of the Serie A.

Muntari tapped in a pass from Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the 72nd minute for his first goal of the year.

Ibrahimovic had failed to convert Inter's two best chances before the goal, shooting just wide in the 33rd and again in the 65th after bringing the ball down with his chest for a clear look at goal.

"We won because we played better than the other team,'' said Inter coach Jose Mourinho. "To defeat a great team like Juventus you have to play an excellent game and that is what we did. My team was fantastic tonight.''

Inter has 30 points, four more than AC Milan, which plays at Turin on Sunday. Juventus has 24 points. Napoli is fourth with 23.

Juventus came into the match with five straight games in Serie A and seven overall while Inter had struggled against lesser opponents recently before playing well against Palermo last week.

The buildup to the match began almost at the beginning of the season with Mourinho and his counterpart at Juventus, Claudio Ranieri, trading verbal jabs since August. Both coached Chelsea with Mourinho piloting the London club to two consecutive Premier League titles after Ranieri had left.

"We had just the right amount of tension coming into the game,'' said Mourinho. "If you go into a game with too much tension you don't win, if you go in without enough tension you don't win.''

Inter controlled most of the game allowing Juventus few opportunities to shoot on goal. The best chance for the Bianconeri came in the 82nd when Alessandro Del Piero headed a corner kick to the near post forcing Inter keeper Julio Cesar to make his only difficult save of the game.

"We played an almost perfect game and this is a wonderful victory for the team,'' said Inter midfielder Dejan Stankovic. "It was tough and we had to run and fight for every ball.''

Adriano played in attack with Ibrahimovic after having been benched by Mourinho for several recent games because of disciplinary issues. The Brazilian striker forced Manninger to make a difficult save or a sharply angled shot and on the goal drew two defenders in the area to open the way for Ibrahimovic's pass to Muntari.

In Florence, Fiorentina scored four second-half goals to come from behind to defeat Udinese 4-2.

Fiorentina's Riccardo Montolivo scored his first two goals of the season, both times threading his shot past several Udinese defenders.

Antonio Floro Flores put Udinese ahead in the 29th and then had two good opportunities for a second goal but they were stopped by excellent saves from goalkeeper Sebastian Frey, who kept his team close going into halftime.

Adrian Mutu drew Fiorentina level in the 52nd, converting a penalty down the middle. Mutu had helped Fiorentina earn the penalty by passing to Alberto Gilardino, who was fouled in the area. Montolivo's two goals then followed to put Fiorentina 3-1 up.

Gilardino scored his ninth goal of the season in the 79th, tapping in another pass from Mutu. Despite missing two games due to a suspension, Gilardino is the No. 2 scorer in the Serie A, one behind Genoa's Diego Milito.

Fiorentina played the last 10 minutes a man down after defender Gianluca Comotto received a red card for using his hands to stop a shot by Floro Flores. Antonio Di Natale converted the resulting penalty to grab one back for Udinese.

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