Inter title charge rolls on

Inter’s title charge gained momentum last night as the champions squeezed past Cagliari 1-0 to close the gap on leaders Milan.

Inter’s bitter city rivals can push their lead over their neighbours back out to five points with victory today at Chievo but the Nerazzurri’s ninth win in 11 league games ensured they kept up the pressure ahead of their Champions League clash with Bayern Munich on Wednesday.

Centre-back Andrea Ranocchia scored the only goal of the game in contentious manner as he appeared to be offside.

Inter hit the winner on seven minutes as Samuel Eto’o took advantage of Cagliari players arguing with the referee to take a quick free-kick.

He played in Houssine Kharja behind the defence and his deflected cross was kept out by Michael Agazzi’s leg only for the ball to rebound to the Morocco midfielder, who fired in a cross that hit Ranocchia and a defender on its way in.

However, television replays showed Ranocchia had been offside as Kharja struck his shot.

Earlier, Daniele Paponi scored a last-minute winner to earn Bologna a 1-0 victory against 10-man Palermo.

The visitors, who had Santiago Garcia sent off early in the second half, slumped to a second straight defeat and their Champions League hopes are now hanging by a thread after a second uninspiring performance in a row.

They sit seventh ahead of today’s games and already five points off a top four-finish.

Bologna, on the other hand, look to be safely in the mid-table comfort zone despite having been deducted three points for financial irregularities earlier in the season.

Serie A

Bologna 1
Paponi 90;
Palermo 0

HT: 0-0. Att: 20,396
Red card: Garcia (P) 57

Inter 1
Ranocchia 7;
Cagliari 0

HT: 1-0. Att: 57,891

Today – 15.00
Chievo vs Milan (1-3)
Fiorentina vs Sampdoria (1-2)
Genoa vs Roma (1-2)
Lazio vs Bari (2-0)
Lecce vs Juventus (0-4) - 12.30
Napoli vs Catania (1-1) - 20.45
Parma vs Cesena (1-1)
Udinese vs Brescia (1-0)

Note: First-round results in brackets

Next fixtures
Wednesday: 18.30 Bologna vs Roma.
Saturday: 20.45 Juventus vs Bologna.
Sunday: 12.30 Catania vs Genoa. 15.00 Bari vs Fiorentina; Brescia vs Lecce; Cagliari vs Lazio; Cesena vs Chievo; Palermo vs Udinese; Roma vs Parma. 20.45 Sampdoria vs Inter.
Monday, Feb. 28: 20.45 Milan vs Napoli.

Top scorers
20 goals: Cavani (Napoli).
18 goals: Di Natale (Udinese).
15 goals: Eto’o (Inter).
14 goals: Di Vaio (Bologna), Matri (Juventus).
13 goals: Ibrahimovic (Milan).

Serie B

AlbinoLeffe 2 - Padova 1
Ascoli 1 - Portogruaro 0
Cittadella 0 - Vicenza 1
Livorno 1 - Novara 0
Reggina 0 - Atalanta 0
Sassuolo 2 - Crotone 0
Siena 2 - Piacenza 3
Torino 3 - Pescara 1
Triestina 2 - Modena 2

Played on Friday
Grosseto 2 - Empoli 1

Tomorrow
Varese vs Frosinone (0-1) - 20.45

Standings: Atalanta 52; Novara 51; Siena 49; Varese 43; Reggina 39; Livorno, Torino, Vicenza 38; Empoli 36; Padova, Pescara 35; AlbinoLeffe, Grosseto 34; Modena, Piacenza, Sassuolo 31; Crotone 30; Cittadella, Portogruaro 28; Ascoli, Triestina 27; Frosinone 24.