Own goal sends Inter nine points clear, Juve held

A disastrous own goal from Mauricio Isla handed Inter a 1-0 victory at Udinese yesterday and a nine-point lead atop Serie A.

Second-placed Juventus's slim title hopes suffered a huge blow as a Sergio Pellissier hat-trick earned Chievo a 3-3 draw in a thrilling match in Turin.

But just two weeks before the crucial title decider between Juve and Inter in Turin, Jose Mourinho's champions extended their lead and with just eight games remaining they look certain to land a fourth straight scudetto crown.

But this victory was handed to them by Isla's horrendous error. As he ran back towards his own goal he ran onto the ball as Patrick Vieira took it around goalkeeper Emanuele Benardi, only for the Udinese defender to inadvertently knock it into his own net.

Until then there had been little to separate the two sides.

The most controversial moment of the first half came when Udinese's Fabio Quagliarella crumpled to the ground in the box under a challenge from goalkeeper Julio Cesar, but the referee decided the forward had gone down too easily.

After the break, Gokhan Inler fired a shot just past the upright and Julio Cesar tipped a Quagliarella effort onto the roof of the net.

At the other end Dejan Stankovic slid onto a teasing right-wing cross from Zlatan Ibrahimovic but saw his poke trickle just wide. But then 13 minutes from time came Isla's horror show to settle the match.

In Turin, Vincenzo Iaquinta's strike 11 minutes from time seemed to have earned the Old Lady a vital victory but Pellissier struck his third in injury time to earn Chievo their first ever point away to Juve.

For Chievo it continued their remarkable recent run that has seen them lose only once since the turn of the year having ended 2008 four points adrift at the bottom.

Pellissier's first two goals were carbon copies as the visitors split Juve's fragile defence with long balls forward from the right, allowing Pellissier to gallop through on goal.

Both times he got between centre-backs Giorgio Chiellini and Olof Mellberg, taking the ball around Gianluigi Buffon on 25 minutes and shooting across the goalkeeper on 44 minutes.

In between Chiellini had restored parity on 34 minutes with a left-foot volley, although Mauro Camo-ranesi's flick in the build up to set up the big defender was exquisite.

Camoranesi created all three Juve goals with the Argentine-born Italy midfielder's header back across goal on 53 minutes coming off three Chievo defenders before trickling over the line without a Juve forward in touching distance.

Eleven minutes from time, Camoranesi crossed to the back post where Iaquinta continued his recent goalscoring run by heading back across Stefano Sorrentino.

But Chievo snatched a well-deserved point at the death as Pellissier met Antonio Langella's cross at the back post with a firm header.

Lacklustre Milan, in a distant third, beat relegation-threatened Lecce 2-0 thanks to two injury-time goals last night.

Philippe Senderos and Ronaldinho both claimed the first after getting their heads to a free-kick and Filippo Inzaghi soon netted a second for the Rossoneri, who left out David Beckham.