By IANS
Milan : Defending Italian Serie A champions Inter Milan edged visiting newcomers Napoli as a Julio Cruz brace sealed a 2-1 win at the San Siro, reports DPA.
After seven Serie A games Inter have 17 points and are unbeaten along with Fiorentina, third on 12 points, who host 13-point Juventus Sunday.
In Saturday’s clash, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the league’s top striker along with Juve’s David Trezeguet on seven goals, missed a chance early in the game, but on 20 minutes left three defenders standing to provide an assist for the winning flick of Julio Cruz.
A low drive from Slovak Marek Hamsik was Napoli’s best chance on 22 minutes, while Cruz was ruthless again 15 minutes later when he spurted past the defenders failing to trigger their off-side trap on a long feed from Dejan Stankovic.
Cruz came close to his third goal on 39 minutes, firing wide off a Luis Figo pass, while Gennaro Iezzo managed a stunning save on a close-range volley from Ibrahimovic three minutes later.
A rather slow second half flared up in its last part as a goal-mouth blunder by Inter’s Honduras substitute David Suazo on 78 minutes was followed by a winning header from Carlos Sosa, a just-fielded Argentine, with six minutes to go.
Inter, however, carefully controlled the midfield to secure their fifth win and improve their league’s best goal record to 16-5.
Also Saturday, Atalanta welcomed Udinese in Bergamo where the two sides played out a scoreless draw that pushed them respectively on 10 and 11 points.