Inter overcome Adriano no-show
Inter were missing the Brazilian striker after he missed his flight back from international duty but first-half goals from Marco Materazzi and Julio Cruz, and three in 12 minutes at the start of the second half from Esteban Cambiasso, Ivan Cordoba and Alvaro Recoba made light of his absence.
Livorno’s misery was compounded by the sending off of Francesco Coco.
Inter coach Roberto Mancini was angry with Adriano for failing to arrive back in Italy on time.
“The incident could have switched the focus away from the match and that was risky. We have plenty of great players but we need him. I haven’t spoken to him about it yet, but there is plenty of time.”
Inter were briefly elevated to second place in the table but were leapfrogged by rivals AC Milan in last night’s 2-0 victory at Cagliari.
Milan, who took just four points from the first nine, made it four wins in a row with two first-half goals, Alberto Gilardino in the first minute and Andriy Shevchenko in the 27th to move within five points of Juventus.
Lazio maintained their 100% home record with a 1-0 win against Fiorentina, Empoli beat Roma 1-0, Ascoli defeated Sampdoria 2-1, while Reggina beat Lecce 2-0. There were draws for Palermo at home to Chievo, 2-2, and Parma, held 1-1 by Treviso.
On Saturday Alessandro Del Piero celebrated a rare start for Juventus by scoring the only goal in their narrow but deserved win over Messina while David Di Michele scored a hat-trick as Udinese beat Siena 3-2.
Early season Spanish pacesetters Getafe and Celta Vigo failed to retake the initiative yesterday, keeping Real Madrid in pole position.
Getafe started the weekend in first place but their unbeaten run came to an end with a 1-0 defeat at Real Betis, who visit Chelsea on Wednesday night in the Champions League. Betis’ win came after 16 minutes when their Brazilian striker Ricardo Oliveira scored from the penalty spot.
Osasuna inflicted a 2-0 loss on Celta Vigo to leave Real Madrid on top after their win over local rivals Atletico 3-0 on Saturday evening.
Osasuna climb to second, just behind Madrid on goal difference, thanks to second-half goals from Savo Milosevic and Pierre Webo while Celta Vigo drop to fourth after their second loss of the season.
Ronaldo scored twice for Real to take his league tally to seven before being stretchered off with a twisted left ankle, sustained in an accidental collision with Luis Perea as the Atletico man put the ball into his own net for Real’s third goal. Ronaldo is doubtful for Wednesday’s Champions League match against Rosenborg
Champions Barcelona were 3-1 up with less than 20 minutes to go at Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday, thanks to two goals from Ronaldinho and another by Samuel Eto’o. But the Catalan club had to settle for a 3-3 draw after late goals from Pedro Munitis and Ruben Castro.
In the late game last night, Sevilla beat relegation rivals Bilbao 1-0.
In France, defending champions Lyon opened up a seven-point gap at the top of Ligue 1, beating struggling Ajaccio 3-2.
The win puts pressure back onto second-placed Paris Saint Germain who travelled to bitter rivals Marseille late last night and were beaten 1-0 by the mid-table club.
Third-placed Bordeaux were held 1-1 at home by relegation-threatened Sochaux and Auxerre thrashed neighbouring Troyes 3-0 to jump into fourth position ahead of St. Etienne who held Nantes 1-1.
Lille, who visit Manchester United in the Champions League on Tuesday night, slipped to eighth place after being held 1-1 at Le Mans.
In Germany, Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich were left cursing referee Michael Weiner as Schalke 04 used a dubious penalty three minutes into stoppage time to secure a 1-1 home draw on Saturday. Danish international Soren Larsen won the questionable spot-kick and converted it to peg back Bayern.
The dropped points allowed Werder Bremen to replace Bayern at the summit on goal difference after they hammered FC Nuremberg 6-2, German international Miroslav Klose scoring a first-half hat-trick to take his season’s tally to 10.
SV Hamburg could have gone top but for a surprise 1-0 home defeat against VfL Wolfsburg and slip to third, behind Bayern and Bremen.
Netherlands international Rafael van der Vaart, one of the stars of the season so far, was sent off for Hamburg after the final whistle for pushing an opponent as players from both sides clashed near the centre circle.
In the Czech Republic, crisis-hit Sparta Prague geared up for the visit of Arsenal on Tuesday by getting back on track with a 5-2 victory over Chmel Blsany. And Liverpool’s midweek opponents Anderlecht also hit form, going top of Belgium’s Jupiler League on Saturday with a 1-0 win at Beveren.
The Brussels club, who host the European champions on Wednesday, claimed victory with a Walter Baseggio goal after 37 minutes.
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