Inter take wrong approach after setback to Juventus

Up to a fortnight ago, things looked bright for Inter. Buoyed by their success in the season curtain-raiser - the Italian Supercup - they were still within sights of Serie A pacesetters Juventus, reached the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia and qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League.

Then, the moment of truth came as Inter had to cross swords with Fiorentina and Juventus in the space of five days.

It was here that Inter failed miserably on and off the field of play. Not only because they lost both matches and fell a staggering 12 points behind Juve in the standings, but their attitude in the post-mortem lacked all spirit of Fair Play to say the least.

Roberto Mancini used harsh words against referee Gianluca Paparesta and his former team-mate at Lazio Pavel Nedved.

A few days after the game, 2000 Golden Ball winner Luis Figo was reported as saying that he had seen Juventus Director General Luciano Moggi coming out of the match officials' dressing room. But the Portuguese international then changed his version and said the media had misinterpreted his words.

With so much at stake such allegations were expected. However, in Italy it has almost become a norm to blame referees. These incidents will only continue to foster conflicts among supporters of opposing clubs and, at the same time, will make the officials' job even more difficult.

Moreover, there are a number of followers, including myself, that are becoming somewhat indifferent to the game in Italy as these occurrences will continue to happen.

If only we can go back to the days when true sporting values prevailed.

In the crucial games against Fiorentina and Juventus, Inter played decently well but still finished empty-handed on both occasions.

After the upset in Florence, even a draw against Juventus would not have been enough for Inter because the chances of seeing the Turin giants falling off the pace looks very remote. Mancini's team have now slipped to third place behind Milan.

In my opinion that match against Juventus was free from any controversial decisions.

However, Mancini, went all out to criticise the referee. He would have been fairer in his comments had he stated that Inter played reasonably well but their efforts were still not enough to see them through against the most in-form team in Europe at present.

True, this season there were some debatable decisions by referees. But it would be excessive to attribute Juve's undisputed leadership solely to that. Juve's strength comes from their sheer talent and consistency.

In the two direct clashes with Inter this season, Juve showed that they have something more with respect to their rivals. Perhaps, the biggest edge they have over Inter is that they can handle pressure easier.

Inter could be on the right track to become champions in the near future but, for sure, they have to improve their style off the pitch to achieve their long-time goal.

Serie A statistics

1 point is all Inter have to show from their last three league fixtures. On Saturday, they were held by Livorno to a goalless draw. Two draws and a win have been recorded by Livorno since ex-Roma and Brescia veteran mentor Carlo Mazzone took over from Roberto Donadoni. Juventus had their lead at the top of the table cut to 10 points following a pulsating away draw at Messina. The game was still three minutes old when Juventus were already behind. But the defending champions did not take too much time to get back in business through Zlatan Ibrahimovic. An Adrian Mutu late penalty seemed the perfect end for Juve but Sergio Floccari had other ideas and grabbed his second of the day to salvage a precious point for Messina. Messina and Juventus have shared the spoils for the third consecutive time. The Sicilians have last beaten Juve on April 19, 1964 (1-0).

2 wins and two draws for back-to-form Palermo since new coach Giuseppe Papadopulo took over from Luigi Del Neri. Last weekend, Palermo settled for a goalless draw at Chievo. This was the first drawn result between these two sides since January 19, 1997 (2-2 in Serie B). Palermo have only one win - 3-0 on December 18, 1994 (in Serie B) - to show from their five league visits to Verona. Chievo are unbeaten at home since going down to Inter on September 21, 2005 (0-1). Lecce inched nearer to relegation as they failed to beat fellow strugglers Reggina at home for the second season running. Lecce are winless in their last 11 outings.

9 successive league games without a win (four draws and five defeats) for crisis-hit Udinese as the north-easterners succumbed to their first home defeat in eight meetings with Siena. This was Udinese's second straight home defeat, following their setback to Reggina. Udinese are currently second only to Lecce in the list of teams that have collected less points than last season. As a matter of fact, Udinese, who this time last season were fourth, have no fewer than 15 points less with respect to last term. For Siena, that of Sunday was their first win after two draws and one defeat. Mario Beretta's Parma made a giant step to confirming their Serie A status as they went on to beat bottom-of-the-class Treviso for the first time since October 9, 1983 (3-0 in Serie C1). For Treviso the upset to Parma was their 10th defeat from 13 home fixtures.

10th league win on the trot for Roma after beating minnows Empoli 1-0 at home. It was a day of mixed emotions at the Olimpico. Roma equalled the Serie A's longest winning streak but lost captain Francesco Totti for at least two months through injury. Sunday's defeat confirmed Empoli's poor record at Roma, against whom they have never won in seven Serie A visits - six defeats and a draw. Lazio did a favour to their city neighbours as they caused the biggest upset of the day by beating Fiorentina 2-1 in Florence. Fiorentina's defeat, coupled with Roma's win, enabled the latter to leapfrog into fourth place. Lazio have thus become the second team, after Juventus, to beat Fioren-tina at home this season. The Viola have not won against Lazio at home since November 5, 1995 (2-0).

16 goals were scored on the 26th day. There were three goalless draws. Luca Toni still leads the scorers' list with 22 goals. Total number of goals scored so far amount to 669. Two players - Sergio Floccari (Messina) and Rey Volpato (Siena) - grabbed a brace each. Valeri Bojinov (Fiorentina), Adrian Mutu (Juventus) and Igor Budan (Ascoli) came on as substitutes and scored. Three players - Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus), Vincent Candela (Udinese) and Francesco Flachi (Sampdoria) - received marching orders. Alberto Gilardino (Milan), Mutu and Vincenzo Iaquinta (Udinese) ably converted the three penalties of the past weekend.

22 years had to pass for Ascoli to return to winning ways at Sampdoria. Ascoli took the lead through Fabio Quaglia-rella. The hosts made a strong reaction and equalised through Sergio Volpi. When the game was heading to a draw, which would have been the first between these two sides since March 1983, Ascoli hit the winner through new signing Igor Budan. This was Sampdoria's first home defeat since going down to Livorno (0-2) on January 8. The result becomes even more significant when one considers that this was Ascoli's first ever away win of the term. Cagliari remained the only side still without an away victory after suffering a narrow defeat against Milan at the San Siro. Not that Milan played brilliantly well, but at least it was enough to enable them to chalk up their third successive win. As for Cagliari, they have collected only one point from the last-available nine.