Udinese tear Inter apart

Udinese 3 Inter 1

Udinese tore defending Serie A champions Inter apart with an impressive 3-1 win which puts them into the hunt for a place in Europe next season.

Dejan Stankovic put Inter ahead in the 16th minute, but the rest of the game belonged to the home side.

Cristian Zapata levelled five minutes later before Antonio Di Natale put them in front in the 25th minute.

Maurizio Domizzi sealed the win in the 69th minute to lift Udinese to within a point of Juventus and Palermo and just two behind fifth-placed Inter, becoming the first side to take any points off Leonardo's side in 2011.

After putting four past Milan and Sampdoria in their last two games, Udinese added three against the Nerazzurri.

Alexis Sanchez was instrumental in Udinese's quick-flowing football against one of the club's reported to be keen on signing him.

The Bianconeri served Inter a lesson in fine football, and Sanchez will wonder if it would make any sense moving to Inter even if they did bid to sign him.

He had the first chance of the game in the seventh minute when he rose above Ivan Cordoba to head wide.

Maicon almost scored a curious own goal as his attempted clearance looped up into the sunlight, causing Inter goalkeeper Luca Castellazzi problems and he palmed the ball against his own crossbar.

However, it was Inter who went ahead against the run of play in the 16th minute when Thiago Motta stole possession off Pablo Armero and squared to Stankovic, whose determined shot nestled in the bottom corner of Samir Handanovic's goal.

Stankovic almost made it two in the 19th minute, but his volley from 20 yards out was saved.

The home side levelled in the 21st minute during probably their least convincing spell of the game.

Inter failed to fully clear a corner and the ball fell for Zapata inside the penalty area, and he arrowed a shot into the top corner with Castellazzi unable to keep the ball out, despite getting a weak hand to it.

Four minutes later, Udinese went ahead with Stankovic fouling Gokhan Inler on the edge of the penalty area and Di Natale curled the direct free-kick over the wall and into the unguarded side of Castellazzi's goal.

The second half was a further demonstration of Udinese's superiority against the unrecognisable defending Serie A champions.

Di Natale shot into the side-netting in the 48th minute before setting up Giampiero Pinzi for a volley which Castellazzi saved minutes later.

Domizzi's free-kick was tipped onto the top of the crossbar in the 51st minute as the home side looked to make their dominance count.

And Domizzi ensured the points for Francesco Guidolin's side in the 69th minute as he latched onto Kwadwo Asamoah's header to just beat Casetllazzi to the ball and direct it in for a convincing victory from Serie A's form team.