Title favourites Inter Milan held on to top spot in Italy’s Serie A despite drawing 0-0 at Udinese.

Both sides had a chance to claim the three points in the second half.

Udinese keeper Morgan De Sanctis saved Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s goalbound shot with his legs, and seconds later Vincenzo Iaquinta rolled an angled shot wide for the home side with just Julio Cesar to beat Sunday.

A third draw in their seven league matches played left Inter on 15 points, two ahead of Rome who drew 1-1 at home to Chievo.

Inter coach Roberto Mancini thought his side deserved victory.

“In the first half the players looked as if they were feeling the effects of Wednesday’s Champions league match and they weren’t brilliant,” he told Italy’s Sky Sports.

“But they were great in the second half and all that was missing was the goal. We could have taken all three points.”

Sergio Pellissier put Chievo ahead at the Olympic stadium, before Francesco Totti equalised with his first goal of the season.

Udinese are tied on 12 points with Atalanta, who fought back from two goals down at half time to win 3-2 at home to Sampdoria, and Livorno, held to a 0-0 draw at home to Siena.

Livorno captain Cristiano Lucarelli had a goal ruled out for offside late in the second half. The point Siena gained made up for the one they had deducted earlier this week for their failure to make an income tax payment on time.

Palermo, who also have 12 points, can join Inter at the top of the table if they win away to AC Milan in the day’s late match at the San Siro.

Milan, docked eight points for match-fixing, won their first three matches but have drawn their last three.

Parma won for the first time this season, edging Ascoli 1-0 thanks to Igor Budan’s early goal.

The match between Fiorentina against Reggina - who were both found guilty of match-fixing and had to start on minus 19 and minus 15 points respectively - ended in a comprehensive 3-0 win for the Florence club.

Adrian Mutu, Mario Santana and Manuele Blasi scored Fiorentina’s goals in a one-sided contest.

Catania won 3-1 against Lazio despite playing behind closed doors at a neutral stadium. The Sicilian club were forced to play at Lecce as punishment for the unruly behaviour of their fans earlier this month.

Pellissier gave Chievo the lead at Roma after a defensive mix-up between keeper Alexander Doni and Christian Chivu, before Totti’s cool finish restored parity for the 2001 champions.

Roma defenders Matteo Ferrari and Christian Panucci both had headers cleared off the line, and Panucci had a goal disallowed for offside.

Riccardo Zampagna’s lobbed goal a minute from time completed Atalanta’s remarkable comeback.

Fabio Quagliarella scored twice for Sampdoria, but two penalty kicks from Cristiano Doni - who left Sampdoria a year ago after two years with the Genoa club - brought the hosts level.

On Saturday Messina drew 2-2 at home to Empoli and Cagliari drew 0-0 with Torino.

The Serie A clubs found guilty of match-fixing could climb the table significantly if their final appeals to the Italian Olympic Committee’s Court of Arbitration are successful.

The verdicts are expected at the end of the month.

Source:Soccer News