Inter humbled by lowly Novara

Novara silenced the San Siro with a 1-0 win over Inter Milan which gives them hope in their battle against relegation while putting the pressure on Nerazzurri coach Claudio Ranieri as they lost for the third time in their last four games.

SERIE A RESULTS

 

Saturday, March 3
Palermo	0-4	AC Milan	Recap
Juventus	1-1	Chievo	Recap
Sunday, March 4
Parma	1-2	Napoli	Recap
Fiorentina	2-0	Cesena	Recap
Lecce	2-2	Genoa	Recap
Roma	1-2	Lazio	Recap
Siena	3-0	Cagliari	Recap
Udinese	0-0	Atalanta	Recap
Bologna	1-0	Novara	Recap
Inter Milan	2-2	Catania	Recap
More: Serie A | Standings |Stats

Andrea Caracciolo scored the only goal of the game in the 56th minute as Novara completed the double over Inter this season.

They even held onto the win with just 10 men for the last 10 minutes of the game after Ivan Radovanovic was sent off.

After winning their first game back in the top flight against the Nerazzuri in September, they completed the double over their local rivals at the San Siro.

It did not look likely when Wesley Sneijder warmed the palms of Samir Ujkani in the ninth minute, but despite Inter's early attacks, Novara never just sat back and defended.

Caracciolo tested Julio Cesar for the first time in the 22nd minute before almost beating the Inter goalkeeper seven minutes later on another of Novara's interesting counter-attacks.

Inter were claiming a penalty when Andrea Poli went down in the area, but Santiago Garcia timed his sliding tackle to perfection to deny the former Sampdoria midfielder and the referee rightly waved away the protests.

Diego Milito missed the first chance of the second half when he was put through by a fine pass by Esteban Cambiasso.

He turned onto his preferred right foot, but shot straight at Ujkani in the 51st minute.

Novara took the lead five minutes later with an excellent break.

Caracciolo took the ball down well and used Rigoni as a decoy to his right before turning inside and curling his shot unstoppably into the far corner of Julio Cesar's goal.

Inter sent men forward with Diego Forlan introduced as a fourth attacking player, but Novara still found good chances on the break, such as in the 74th minute when Rigoni's teasing cross was pushed out by Julio Cesar just in front of Caracciolo.

Radovanovic was shown a second yellow card as referee Carmine Russo came under pressure from the Inter players demanding punishment for Novara's time-wasting.

But even with 10 men, Novara were able to hold on to only their third win of the season with Sneijder's shot against the crossbar in the 88th minute symptomatic of Inter's day.