Cagliari turned on the style to hold Inter to a 2-2 draw at the San Siro yesterday as Fiorentina hammered 10-man Atalanta 4-1 at home to take over third place from Napoli.

After leaders Juventus were held to a scoreless draw at home to Lazio on Saturday Inter had a chance to close the gap on the champions.

But despite Rodrigo Palacio giving the hosts an early lead, a superb double from striker Marco Sau had the Sardinians in front and it took an own goal from Davide Astori for Inter to pull level.

Inter had several chances to score, notably through Diego Milito, in a lively second half.

But the Argentine striker missed two clear chances from close range and was denied a third time by alert Cagliari ’keeper Michael Agazzi.

In the closing minutes Inter piled on the pressure and were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty when midfielder Walter Gargano was hauled down inside the box.

Cagliari held on and in the end were worthy of a share of the points.

Inter handed Juventus their first defeat in 50 games two weeks ago but came up short in the Nerazzurro derby last week with defeat to Atalanta.

Inter coach Andrea Stramaccioni was also red-carded for protesting towards the end of the game, and club president Massimo Moratti hit out at what he said was another questionable refereeing decision.

“That’s three games in a row we’ve suffered injustice and not got the result we deserved because of a refereeing decision,” he said.

“I can’t get over it. The penalty was as big as a house!”

Inter’s first draw in 13 matches left them in second place on 28 points, four adrift of Juventus but one ahead of Fiorentina and Napoli.

Fiorentina maintained their impressive push up the table under coach Vincenzo Montella with a one-sided win over Atalanta

The hosts took a fifth-minute lead when a free-kick whipped in from the left evaded the entire Atalanta defence to land at the feet of Gonzalo Rodriguez, who slammed the ball into the net from close range.

Atalanta have been on good form of late and levelled just after the half-hour when Giacomo Bonaventura slotted the ball home. But Fiorentina regained the lead before the interval when Alberto Aquilani sent a sublime free-kick past Andrea Consigli in the Atalanta goal.

Atalanta were then reduced to 10 when Luca Cigarini hauled down Juan Cuadrado as the Colombian midfielder ran down on goal and Fiorentina made the visitors pay immediately when Aquilani beat Consigli from close range following a corner in first-half injury time.

Former Italy striker Luca Toni added a fourth goal with a header four minutes into the second half to consign Atalanta to their fifth defeat of the season and leave Fiorentina in dreamland.

“The scudetto? The fans are dreaming of it, but let’s keep our feet on the ground and keep on working as we have been,” said Montella

Struggling Bologna, meanwhile, beat Palermo 3-0 at home to move a point clear of the relegation zone in a lively match which saw four players red-carded, including the visitors’ Albanian goalkeeper Samir Ujkani.

Serie A

Bologna 3
Gilardino 22; Gabbiadini 44 pen; Diamanti 48 pen;
Palermo 0

HT: 2-0. Att: 20,000.
Red cards: Taider (B) 78; Ujkani (P) 46, Barreto (P) 72, Labrin (P) 82.

Catania 2
Almiron 51, 85;
Chievo 1
Andreolli 90;

HT: 0-0. Att: 11,045.

Fiorentina 4
Rodriguez 5; Aquilani 42, 45; Toni 49;
Atalanta 1
Bonaventura 32;

HT: 3-1. Att: 27,219.
Red card: Cigarini (A) 45.

Inter 2
Palacio 10; Astori 82 og;
Cagliari 2
Sau 43, 66;

HT: 1-1. Att: 51,671.

Sampdoria 3
Poli 16; Bovo 36og; Icardi 88;
Genoa 1
Immobile 73;

HT: 2-0. Att: 22,000.

Siena 1
Valiani 31;
Pescara 0

HT: 1-0. Att: 8,382.
Red cards: Capuano (P) 86, Zanon (P) 90.
Missed penalty: Vukusic (P) 45.

Udinese 2
Di Natale 9; Pereyra 50
Parma 2
Marchionni 46; Palladino 89;

HT: 1-0. Att: 13,000.

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Juventus	13	10	2	1	29	9	32
Inter	13	9	1	3	26	15	28
Fiorentina	13	8	3	2	23	10	27
Napoli	13	8	3	2	22	11	27
Lazio	13	7	2	4	19	17	23
Catania	13	5	4	4	17	17	19
Atalanta (-2)	13	6	2	5	14	19	18
Roma	12	5	2	5	28	23	17
Parma	13	4	5	4	16	18	17
Udinese	13	3	7	3	18	20	16
Cagliari	13	4	4	5	13	19	16
Milan	13	4	3	6	20	18	15
Torino (-1)	12	3	6	3	13	10	14
Sampdoria (-1)	13	4	2	7	16	19	13
Bologna	13	3	2	8	15	18	11
Palermo	13	2	5	6	11	20	11
Chievo	13	3	2	8	13	25	11
Pescara	13	3	2	8	9	24	11
Siena (-6)	13	4	4	5	13	14	10
Genoa	13	2	3	8	13	22	9

Playing today
Roma vs Torino - 20.45

Top scorers
10 goals: El Shaarawy (Milan).
8 goals: Cavani (Napoli), Lamela (Roma), Di Natale (Udinese).

Next fixtures
Saturday: 20.45 Palermo vs Catania.
Sunday: 15.00 Atalanta vs Genoa; Chievo vs Siena; Pescara vs Roma; Sampdoria vs Bologna; Torino vs Fiorentina. 20.45 Milan vs Juventus.
Monday, Nov. 26: 19.00 Cagliari vs Napoli; 21.00 Parma vs Inter.
Tuesday, Nov. 27: 20.45 Lazio vs Udinese.

Serie B
Brescia 1 - Sassuolo 1

Prima Divisione ‘A’
AlbinoLeffe vs Lumezzane 1-2; Cre-monese vs Pavia 0-1; Cuneo vs San Marino 0-1; FeralpiSalo vs Portogruaro 2-2; Reggiana vs Tritium 4-0; Trapani vs SudTirol 4-0; Treviso vs Como 2-2; Entella vs Carpi 1-1.

Leading standings: Lecce 26; Carpi 21; Trapani, Entella 18; Lumezzane, Pavia 17.

Prima Divisione ‘B’
Andria vs Carrarese 2-2; Avellino vs Gubbio 2-0; Barletta vs Paganese 0-1; Catanzaro vs Prato 2-1; Latina vs Benevento 2-2; Nocerina vs Viareggio 2-1; Perugia vs Frosinone 2-2.

Leading standings: Latina, Frosinone 20; Pisa, Avellino 19; Paganese 18.