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On Saturday, three matches of the 27th round were played in the Italian championship. Both Milan clubs secured victories, while "Roma" lost points playing against the championship's outsider.
The championship leader "Inter" won 2-1 away after a fierce battle against the lately struggling "Livorno" club, allowing the Milan club to extend their lead over the closest pursuer to 16 points.
However, the Italian champions did not start the match successfully. In the 27th minute, team defender Marco Materazzi brought down opponent Cristiano Lucarelli, resulting in a penalty kick for the visitors. The fallen forward stood up to take the kick and his strong and accurate shot went straight into the opponent's goal.
Nevertheless, the lead in the match was equalized just eight minutes later. Fabio Grosso sent the ball towards Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who then perfectly passed the ball to Julio Cruz standing behind him, needing only to send the ball into the goal from a close distance.
The perfect pass by the Swede in the second half secured the team's victory. In the 66th minute, the player stood up to take a penalty kick and his shot hit Rahman Reaei before entering Marco Amelia's guarded goal.
The end of the match saw "Inter" having to play with ten men and without their head coach. In the 82nd minute, Maicon received a yellow card for a foul on the opponent, but the Brazilian got too heated arguing with the referee and soon received his second yellow card, having to leave the field. Shortly after that, "Inter" coach Roberto Mancini was also sent off for discussions with the officials.
"Inter" managed to further distance themselves from "Roma", who failed to defeat the absolute bottom team, "Ascoli", in an away match. The match ended in a 1-1 draw.
The capital team found themselves in a tough spot as the first goal of the match was scored by players from the "Ascoli" team. In the 32nd minute, Simone Pesce crossed the ball to Paolo Foglio in the penalty area and the ball, which bounced off a "Roma" defender, found its way to Andrea Soncini, who confidently scored a goal.
"Roma" managed to avoid defeat only towards the end of the match. With four minutes remaining in regular time, "Ascoli" goalkeeper Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos saved a shot from Davide Pizarro, but could not do anything against Christian Wilhelmsson's subsequent shot.
Meanwhile, the "Milan" club, fighting for a place in the Champions League next year, also found themselves in a tricky situation, but managed to secure a home victory over the relegation-threatened "Chievo" team with a score of 3-1.
The Verona club took the lead thanks to a comical goal. In the 17th minute, Daniele Bonera, trying to protect the ball from Sergio Pellissier, collided with his own goalkeeper Dida, and taking advantage of the situation, S. Pellissier found himself alone against the empty goal and put his team in front.
"Milan" started pressing the opponents and equalized in the 33rd minute. "Chievo" defender Lorenzo Squizzi blocked a shot from Kaka, but the rebound found another home player, Alberto Gilardino, who beat the opposition's goalkeeper.
The first goal for the Milan club was scored by defender Massimo Oddo. The former "Lazio" player received a pass from A. Gilardino and shot with his right foot into the far corner of the goal to turn the match around. In the final moments of the match, "Milan" managed to secure the victory. Clarence Seedorf scored the third goal for his team with an excellent penalty kick.
Saturday's match results:
1 – 2 27` [1 – 0] Cristiano Lucarelli 35` [1 – 1] Julio Ricardo Cruz 66` [1 – 2] Zlatan Ibrahimovic 82` Maicon sent off ("Inter") 1 – 1 31` [1 – 0] Andrea Soncin 85` [1 – 1] Christian Wilhelmsson 3 – 1 17` [0 – 1] Sergio Pellissier 33` [1 – 1] Alberto Gilardino 55` [2 – 1] Massimo Oddo 90` [3 – 1] Clarence Seedorf
Top scorers of the championship:...
League table:
Note: due to the corruption scandal, "Fiorentina" deducted 15 points, "Reggina" - 11, "Milan" - 8, "Lazio" - 3. Due to financial reasons, "Siena" deducted 1 point.
