Serie A
Inter stumble at Palermo
Afp, Rome
Serie A title hopefuls Inter Milan suffered an embarrassing 3-2 defeat away to Palermo on Saturday while their city neighbours AC Milan won 3-1 at home to Siena. Big-spending Inter were outclassed in Sicily and trailed 3-0 before two late strikes by substitute Julio Cruz made the scoreline more respectable for Roberto Mancini's side. Eugenio Corini's superb free-kick gave Palermo a first half lead before second-half headers from Christian Terlizzi and Stephen Makinwa put the pink-shirted hosts firmly in control. Palermo might have won by a bigger margin had the crossbar not kept out shots from Andrea Caracciolo and Mariano Gonzalez. At the San Siro, Paolo Maldini returned from a knee injury to mark his 569th Serie A appearance - one short of Dino Zoff's all-time record - as his AC Milan side bounced back from their draw against Ascoli a fortnight ago to beat Siena. Andriy Shevchenko set up Massimo Ambrosini for the opening goal in the 15th minute before getting on the scoresheet himself with a powerful drive into the top corner, the European Footballer of the Year's 110th Serie A goal. Igor Tudor gave Siena a lifeline by heading in just before the break but an 81st minute goal from substitute Kaka ended the Tuscan side's resistance. In Sicily, Ivan Cordoba's last-ditch tackle prevented Massimo Bonanni from giving Palermo an early advantage before Inter's Brazilian striker Adriano, who scored a hat-trick against Treviso a fortnight ago in the opening game of the season, stung the palms of Nicola Santoni with an angled drive. The vast majority of the 37,000 sell-out crowd at the Renzo Barbera stadium were on their feet in the 20th minute. Andrea Caracciolo was brought down by Ivan Cordoba 25 yards out and Corini curled the free-kick into the net off the underside of the crossbar. Julio Cesar tipped Caracciolo's half-volley onto the bar before the home side stamped their authority on the match in the 50th minute. This time Palermo captain Corini turned provider, delivering the right-wing corner which Terlizzi met with an unstoppable header. Nigerian striker Makinwa, a summer signing from Atalanta, opened his account in the 67th minute, heading in Mario Santana's left-wing cross.
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