Inter beat Palermo to cut Juve's lead

Inter cut Juventus's lead in Serie A to five points with a 3-0 win over Palermo yesterday.

The result gave second-placed Inter 48 points from 21 matches. Juve can re-establish their eight-point cushion by beating Empoli today.

Inter took the lead in the 33rd minute when Esteban Cambiasso headed in from a corner.

They almost doubled their advantage just before half-time when Adriano's close-range shot was saved by Cristiano Lupatelli.

Palermo came out aggressively after the interval. Inter keeper Julio Cesar did well to turn Fabio Grosso's free kick round his post in the 50th minute and could only watch as Simone Barone blasted the ball against the base of the post shortly afterwards.

As the minutes passed, though, Inter turned up the pressure. Winger Kily Gonzalez forced Lupatelli into a reflex save with a fierce drive from the edge of the area and Luis Figo's first touch let him down when Adriano laid the ball into his path on the edge of the box.

Inter finally got their second goal in the 77th minute when Walter Samuel's header from a corner deflected off Ivan Cordoba and into the net.

Figo grabbed the third with a free kick three minutes later to seal the win and extend Inter's unbeaten run in Serie A to 12 matches.

In an earlier match, Lazio had two men sent off in a 1-1 draw with relegation candidates Cagliari.

The result left Lazio ninth on 30 points. Cagliari climbed to 15th on 19 points, four above the drop zone.

Lazio dominated the early stages and went ahead in the 36th minute when Paolo Di Canio nodded Massimo Oddo's cross past visiting keeper Antonio Chimenti.

The balance began to turn five minutes later when defender Sebastiano Siviglia was red-carded for kicking out at Nelson Abeijon.

In the second-half, Cagliari exploited the spaces in Lazio's defence to grab a 69th-minute equaliser, Massimo Gobbi tapping in Andrea Capone's low cross. The growing frustration of Lazio's players exploded after they had a goal disallowed for offside.

As resentment simmered, midfielder Fabio Liverani was booked for a foul and then had his yellow card turned to red for protesting to leave nine team-mates to fend off Cagliari's attacks for the final 10 minutes.