Juventus’ unbeaten run Inter-cepted

The Old Lady fails to reach half-century of unbeaten games following defeat in Serie A by closest rivals Inter Milan.

Juventus FC v FC Internazionale Milano - Serie A
A brace from Diego Milito (L) inspired Inter to a massive win over Serie A leaders Juventus [GALLO/GETTY]

Inter Milan ended Juventus’ 49-match unbeaten streak in Serie A with a 3-1 comeback win over their bitter rivals in ‘Italy’s derby’ on Saturday and moved within one point of the lead.

For their ninth consecutive victory in all competitions, Inter also had to overcome questionable refereeing.

Chile midfielder Arturo Vidal put Juventus ahead after just 18 seconds, but replays clearly showed that Kwadwo Asamoah provided the cross while offside.

In the 12th minute, a goal from Inter forward Rodrigo Palacio was annulled for another questionable offside call, this time with replays indecisive.

“We had a lot of courage to play like this in this stadium. Nobody had ever done that before”

Inter Milan’s Diego Milito

However, Inter eventually equalised with a penalty from Diego Milito in the 59th after Claudio Marchisio tugged the Argentine’s jersey. Milito scored the winner by firing in a rebound in the 75th.

As Juve pressed forward for an equaliser, Palacio scored Inter’s third in the 90th, finishing off a counterattack with a pass from Japan fullback Yuto Nagatomo.

Juventus had not lost in the Italian league since being beaten by Parma 1-0 in the penultimate match of the 2010-11 season. The Bianconeri were unbeaten last season en route to the title.

AC Milan hold the record unbeaten streak at 58 matches, set from 1991 to 1993.

“The first goal was offside, but after that goal we reacted well and had a great match,” Milito said.

“We had a lot of courage to play like this in this stadium. Nobody had ever done that before.”

‘Own road’ 

Juventus Stadium opened last season and this marked the Bianconeri’s first loss there.

“We’re following our own road,” Milito said.

“We’ve still got an extraordinary squad ahead of us and I’m sure they won’t give up until the end. We’ve just got to try and keep winning and then we’ll see what happens at the end.”

“I just spoke with the president (Silvio Berlusconi) and we both said the same thing, ‘We seemed like Milan tonight.'”

Milan club vice president Adriano Galliani

Earlier, AC Milan moved into the top half of the table with a 5-1 rout of Chievo Verona, boosting manager Massimiliano Allegri’s chances of holding onto his job.

Urby Emanuelsson opened the scoring for Milan in the 16th minute at the San Siro and while Sergio Pellissier equalised for Chievo two minutes later, the Rossoneri got two more goals from Riccardo Montolivo and Bojan Krkic before halftime.

Stephen El Shaarawy added another in the 75th for his league-leading eighth goal of the season, and Giampaolo Pazzini found the target in added time.

Milan moved into a tie for seventh place with Roma and Cagliari, 14 points behind Juventus.

“I think Milan is back,” club vice president Adriano Galliani said.

“I just spoke with the president (Silvio Berlusconi) and we both said the same thing, ‘We seemed like Milan tonight.’ He really liked Bojan and he told me to compliment the coach.

“We’re a bit calmer now with the seven points from the last three matches, which have given us a bit of a jump. We’ve got a squad that can’t not finish in the top places.”

Milan lost five of their opening eight matches and Allegri has been fending off speculation that he could be fired for several weeks. This week, Milan needed two late goals to rally for a 2-2 draw at Palermo.

“Any other club in our situation would have changed coaches,” Galliani said.

“I’ve got a great relationship with Allegri.”

Source: News Agencies