Late Sneijder strike seals Inter 2-1 win over Udinese

Inter left it late to move to the top of Serie A with a 2-1 win over in-form Udinese last night.

Dejan Stankovic put the Nerazzurri ahead in the 22nd minute, but Antonio Di Natale equalised within five minutes.

Both sides had chances to win an entertaining game before Wesley Sneijder struck deep in stoppage time to break Udinese's hearts and take Inter one point clear of Sampdoria at the top of the table.

Inter coach Jose Mourinho recalled Diego Milito to his starting XI after the Argentinian missed the midweek Champions League tie with Rubin Kazan due to injury.

And he only lasted 25 minutes of this game too before having to limp out with a muscular strain and be replaced by Mario Balotelli.

By then, Inter had taken the lead thanks to a well-taken goal from Stankovic.

Samuel Eto'o broke and laid the ball off to his right to Stankovic, who drilled his shot accurately past Samir Handanovic into the corner of the goal from 12 yards out.

Inter's lead lasted only five minutes, though, before Serie A's top scorer Di Natale scored his ninth of the season.

Inter responded well with Eto'o going close to a second, but it was Udinese who had the best chance to go ahead in the first half when Alexis Sanchez beat the Inter offside trap like Di Natale before him, but he failed to provide the same kind of finish with just Julio Cesar to beat.

Di Natale nearly moved into double figures for the season early in the second half when he lifted his shot just over the crossbar from close range.

Moments later, Stankovic nearly replicated his earlier goal from 10 yards further out, but Handanovic got his hand to the shot which was curling towards his bottom corner.

Di Natale could have stolen the points for the visitors in the last minute when he raced clear again to reach Simone Pepe's throughball, but Julio Cesar would not be beaten this time as he thwarted the danger.

But there was late drama as Sneijder won the game for Inter, placing his shot beyond Handanovic into the bottom corner in the third minute of stoppage time to take Inter to the top of the table.

The goal sparked wild celebrations from Mourinho, who leapt down the touchline in relief at the end of a week in which, for the first time since he became coach of Inter 14 months ago, doubts were being raised about his coaching ability.

In the other match yesterday, Bari and Catania shared the points in a disappointing encounter at the Stadio San Nicola.

Chances were at a premium as the two sides struggled on a difficult pitch, which has received plenty of criticism this season.

The closest either side came to scoring was when Vitali Kutuzov hit the post for Bari in the first half.