Gazzetta

What a strange weekend that was. None of the top three won but Inter still increased their lead at the top, Parma are in a Champions League slot and there are nine teams behind them covered by two points.

Inter's lead over city rivals Milan was restored to five points while Juventus' crisis deepened. I nerazzurri drew 1-1 with Atalanta in Bergamo. Diego Milito had given them the lead but Wesley Sneijder's dismissal opened the way for Atalanta to get their equaliser through Simone Tiribocchi. The Inter players were disappointed to not take all three points. Maicon said: "This was a game we should have won: we scored only one goal and at the end we paid for it because Atalanta were able to take full advantage of their only chance."

After the match, Jose Mourinho was involved in an unsavoury incident with a reporter. First he insulted him and was then seen to grab hold of him and shove him. Club President Massimo Moratti has had to apologise to the association of sports journalists and there may be an investigation by the Italian FA which could lead to another ban for Mourinho, who was already sitting in the stands for this match.

Milan lost at home to Palermo and missed the chance to close the gap at the top. Goals from Fabrizio Miccoli and Mark Bresciano gave the Sicilian side all three points and stopped Milan's run of five victories in a row. Post-match he refused the comparisons with Ronaldinho, saying: "No I'm only Miccoli. Now I'm 30 and I can't be inspired by anyone else now. He is a great player but the only thing I was interested in was the result."

Leonardo had to defend his formation after the game, saying: "Playing in this way we conceded a lot but we also create a lot too. In the first half we had two chances, where they probably had a few more. The match changed in the second half when Miccoli scored. At that point we had to attack more and it wasn't easy to get back in the game."

La vecchia signora's bad run continued at Bari where they lost 3-1. Ciro Ferrara's job is hanging by a thread and Diego didn't help much. With the score at 2-1 for Bari, Juve had a penalty but Diego blasted over the bar and Bari went on to score another goal through Almiron. Ciro still thinks he can see positive signs from this situation: "When there are things to criticise the team for I never hold back but I don't feel like saying anything today. The defeat was hard to take but I saw something in the lads' eyes that I haven't seen for a long time." Can he turn the tide or will he be thrown out in the New Year like a Christmas tree?

One of the matches involving the teams with European aspirations was a 3-3 thriller beween Cagliari and Napoli. Napoli deservedly took a 2-0 lead and looked to be on for all three points but Cagliari hit back and scored three goals in the last 15 minutes to lead 3-2.

In the closing stages of injury-time Massimiliano Allegri, the Cagliari manager kicked away the ball to waste some time. 'Pocho' Lavezzi, angered by this, kicked the ball at him. This caused a brief melee and Lavezzi was sent off. The extra time added on fot this incident was all Napoli needed to get the equaliser and keep up Walter Mazzarri's unbeaten run. That's now nine games unbeaten.

It seems that the pressure surrounding Italian football provokes reactions in players and managers alike.

Brendan Allen