Kaka pounces to end Inter’s 40 game unbeaten run

A 74th-minute goal from Brazilian Kaka gave AC Milan a 1-0 victory in the Milan derby and inflicted Inter’s first defeat of the season last night.

Milan stay joint top of Serie A with Juventus on 57 points, while Inter slipped 14 points behind the leaders.

It was Roberto Mancini’s sides first defeat in forty matches.

Earlier Alessandro Del Piero scored twice as Juventus won 3-0 at home to lowly Siena.

Del Piero scored with an audacious back-heeled goal and a coolly struck penalty either side of a powerful header from Brazilian midfielder Emerson.

Palermo improved their chances of qualifying for the Champions League with a 2-0 victory over Roma, courtesy of second-half goals from Marco Brienza and Luca Toni.

The Sicilians’ eighth home victory leaves them in sixth place, but they have closed the gap on third-placed Sampdoria - 1-0 winners at Brescia on Saturday - to just two points.

Bottom club Atalanta, who already look doomed, came from behind three times to earn a 3-3 draw away to Cagliari, while Lazio eased their relegation fears with a 2-0 home win against strugglers Parma.

In La Liga, Valencia won their first match in the post-Ranieri era, coming back to defeat Real Betis 2-1, with goals from Ruben Baraja and Mista.

Earlier, Sevilla moved into third despite being held 2-2 at home by Racing Santander, Atletico beat Real Sociedad 1-0, while Villarreal slipped to a 1-0 defeat at Zaragoza.

Julio Baptista opened the scoring for Sevilla after 13 minutes, finding the net after a neat defence-splitting pass from his compatriot Adriano. David Aganzo then equalised for Racing two minutes before half time.

Dario Silva gave Sevilla hope that they would clinch the points 13 minutes from time but Mario Regueiro’s header six minutes from time, also from a corner, grabbed Racing a share of the points. .

Malaga notched up a club record 6-1 away win at sorry Osasuna, who are still without a win after eight games in 2005.

Barcelona extended their lead at the top to eight points despite being held to a 1-1 draw at bottom club Numancia on Saturday. The Catalan club have 58 points from 25 games. Juanlu Gomez put the home side ahead just before the break but Barca’s Mexican midfielder Rafa Marquez equalised two minutes after half time when he tapped home a Xavi Hernandez corner.

Second-placed Real Madrid failed to capitalise on Barca dropping two points and crashed 2-0 at Deportivo La Coruna. Deportivo got both their goals inside the first 13 minutes with Albert Luque heading the hosts in front and then Real defender Francisco Pavon nodding a cross from Victor Sanchez into his own net.

Racism directed at Roberto Carlos, led to the match being stopped temporarily.

Referee Jose Javier Lostantos Omar halted the game so a message could be put out on the public address system appealing for the abuse to stop.

Midfielder Mehmet Scholl injured his thigh during Bayern Munich’s 1-0 win over SC Freiburg on Saturday and will miss the second leg of their Champions League tie with Arsenal next week.

The 34-year-old midfielder came off the bench in Bayern’s 3-1 win over Arsenal in the first leg in Munich on Wednesday and sent a free kick straight to the head of Claudio Pizarro for their second goal.

Schalke 04 kept up their dogged pursuit of mighty Bayern with a 1-0 win over Hannover yesterday, which keeps them in second spot in the Bundesliga level on points with the Bavarian giants but behind on goal difference while Werder Bremen defeated Bochum 4-0 to stay third and in sight of a Champions League place.

Bayer Leverkusen, beaten 3-1 by Liverpool in the Champions League in midweek, looked set for a morale-boosting win when Bulgarian international Dimitri Berbatov gave them an 80th minute lead against Stuttgart But Stuttgart grabbed a point in the last minute when Brazilian Cacau converted a penalty after German international Kevin Kuranyi had been fouled.