ROME, 7 February 2005 — Ten-man Inter Milan preserved their unbeaten Serie A record in dramatic fashion yesterday, fighting back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Parma.
The result gave Inter 39 points from 23 matches, 11 behind leaders Juventus, who lost 1-0 to Palermo on Saturday.
Inter’s draw, however, could not save them from surrendering third place in the division to Udinese, who climbed to 40 points after a 1-0 victory over lowly Brescia.
Though Inter have made up ground on Juventus and AC Milan, they came up against a Parma side that had won three of their previous five games to give themselves a good chance of escaping the relegation zone.
Inter began aggressively with Juan Sebastian Veron twice firing narrowly wide in the opening minutes.
The balance of the match swung in the 14th minute, when a Parma counter-attack ended with striker Mark Bresciano crashing the ball off the bar.
That signaled the start of a period of pressure by the home side culminating 20 minutes later when Inter defender Marco Materazzi stuck out a hand to prevent a Bresciano shot crossing the line, earning himself a red card. The ensuing Parma penalty was converted by Fabio Simplicio.
Inter’s hopes of salvaging anything from the encounter looked even slimmer when Italy international Alberto Gilardino beat keeper Hector Carini with a superb overhead kick on the hour.
Inter’s single point was possibly a small consolation as they lost third place in the division to Udinese, who beat relegation candidates Brescia 1-0.
Elsewhere, Reggina maintained their unbeaten start to 2005, when they came back from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 with Siena, while bottom-placed Atalanta grabbed their second win of the season by beating Livorno 1-0.
