Ibrahimovic brought AC MILAN win

ROME -- AC Milan and Udinese each won Sunday to stay it a rare three-way race for the Serie A title with Juventus at the Italian season's midpoint.

Milan won 3-0 at last-place Novara with 2 goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and another from Robinho, whereas Pablo Armero and Antonio Di Natale found Infobahn to steer Udinese to a 2-1 victory over Catania.

Juventus, that beat Atalanta 2-0 Saturday, holds a one-point lead over Milan and is 3 points in front of unsung Udinese, that has never finished over third.For the foremost half, the Serie A title race has been a two-team affair in recent seasons, with Inter Milan winning 5 consecutive championships from 2006-10 and Milan taking the title last year.

"We required to induce 3 points once losing the derby," Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri said, bearing on last weekend's 1-0 defeat to Inter. "We've got forty points, that is what we tend to had last year once the primary half the season. Juve has done higher and they have an extra purpose however there are nineteen matches to travel. i am happy with what the lads do."

Inter was yearning for a seventh consecutive win in Sunday's late match against Lazio.

In alternative matches, it was: Lecce a pair of, Chievo Verona 2; Palermo five, Genoa 3; Siena one, Napoli 1; and Cagliari zero, Fiorentina zero.

Earlier within the lunchtime fixture, Bologna and Parma played to a 0-0 draw, with Parma captain Stefano Morrone exiting at halftime and heading to the hospital, where his son was being treated for a reported respiration drawback.

"There was an instant of panic and that we set to inform Stefano," said Parma coach Roberto Donadoni. "When you are talking a few six-month recent baby it's alarming, however it absolutely was resolved well."

The start of the Cagliari-Fiorentina match was delayed by a 0.5 hour thanks to a workers' protest over the closing of an Alcoa aluminum plant. employees surrounded each the hotel where Fiorentina was staying and Cagliari's coaching centre, forcing each clubs to go away late for the stadium, consistent with the ANSA news agency.

On Wednesday, Milan required an extra-time winner from Alexandre Pato to beat Novara within the Italian Cup, and it once more gave the look of the Rossoneri would possibly struggle when Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva and Stephen El Shaarawy every did not benefit of probabilities within the initial 0.5.

However, Milan captain Massimo Ambrosini found Ibrahimovic on their own in front of the goal for a straightforward end within the 57th, Robinho scored from close-range within the 73rd and Ibrahimovic found the target once more within the ninetieth off a rebound to tie with Di Natale because the league's leading scorer with fourteen goals every.

In Udine, the hosts took management when Colombian winger Pablo Armero finished off a counterattack within the nineteenth, and Armero then provided the cross when Di Natale scored with a volley within the 53rd.

Francesco Lodi pulled one back for Catania with a penalty within the fifth minute of added time.

In Siena, former Napoli forward Emanuele Calaio place the hosts in front with a header within the 67th and goalkeeper Gianluca Pegolo created a formidable save to prevent a penalty from Napoli forward Edinson Cavani within the 79th. However, Napoli still equalized with a header from forward Goran Pandev within the 86th.

In Sicily, Palermo forward Fabrizio Miccoli started 3 goals and scored another.

After Rodrigo Palacio had place Genoa in front within the thirteenth, Igor Budan, Matias Silvestre and Andrea Mantovani struck back for Palermo. Palacio then converted a penalty within the 59th to form it 3-2, Miccoli scored within the seventy fifth to revive Palermo's two-goal lead and Giulio Migliaccio added another by meeting a free kick from Miccoli with a header within the 84th.

In Lecce, Chievo went ahead with 2 early goals from Alberto Paloschi and Lecce equalized with strikes by Andrea Esposito within the thirtieth and David Di Michele within the third minute of second-half added time.