MILAN, 21 March 2005 — Inter Milan hung on for a 3-2 victory over Fiorentina at the San Siro Stadium yesterday, holding on to third place in Serie A.
Inter, who had Brazilian striker Adriano taken off with a first half injury, led 3-1 but an own goal from Ivan Cordoba in the 87th minute made Roberto Mancini’s side sweat.
Udinese moved up to fourth place after two goals from David Di Michele gave them a 2-1 victory over Lecce, the winner coming in the 89th minute.
Sampdoria slipped out of the top four after a surprise 2-1 home loss to Atalanta while the other Champions League qualification hopefuls Palermo drew 3-3 at Parma, with the home side fighting back for a point despite being down to nine men.
Inter, who have been drawn against Milan in the Champions League quarterfinals, went ahead in the 27th minute with a fine volley from Argentine midfielder Esteban Cambiasso. But they were pegged back five minutes before the break when Giampaolo Pazzini netted with an acrobatic effort.
Another Argentine, Juan Sebastian Veron fired Inter back in front eight minutes after the restart with a thundering shot from 20 meters and the game looked over when Colombian Ivan Cordoba scored in the 65th minute.
Inter were given a late scare three minutes from the end, Cordoba turning a low cross from Fiorentina’s Japanese midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata into his own net.
Liverpool, Birmingham Win on Derby Day
In London, Liverpool revived their hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League with a 2-1 victory over Everton in a passionate Merseyside derby yesterday.
Liverpool led through first-half goals by captain Steven Gerrard and Spanish playmaker Luis Garcia before a 77th-minute red card for their Czech striker Milan Baros threw Everton a lifeline at Anfield.
Birmingham City beat Aston Villa 2-0 in the Midlands derby and two Peter Crouch goals hauled Southampton out of the Premier League relegation zone, giving them a 3-1 win at Middlesbrough.
Schalke Defeat Leaves Bayern Top of Bundesliga
In Frankfurt, Schalke 04 handed the Bundesliga title initiative straight back to Bayern Munich yesterday when they suffered a 2-1 defeat at struggling FSV Mainz.
Schalke, who beat Bayern 1-0 last weekend to take over at the top, found the role of front-runners a lot tougher to play and Mainz took the lead within 60 seconds via a Fabian Gerber header.
Lincoln pulled Schalke level from the penalty spot in the 70th minute but a Michael Thurk volley nine minutes later earned Mainz a valuable win in their battle to avoid the drop.
The result confirmed Bayern as leaders once again following their 3-1 home win over Hansa Rostock on Saturday.
VfB Stuttgart moved back into third place on 48 points with a 1-0 home win over bottom club SC Freiburg. Werder are fourth on 47 after their 2-1 win at FC Nuremberg on Saturday.
Baptista Scores Winner for Sevilla, Then Sent Off
In Madrid, Sevilla striker Julio Baptista ended his side’s five-match winless run from the penalty spot, then got sent off, as the Andalucians beat struggling Real Mallorca 1-0 in the Primera Liga yesterday.
Mallorca midfielder Gonzalo de los Santos brought down Baptista in the area just before halftime, earning himself his second yellow card of the game, and Baptista got up to score his 14th goal of the season.
