Pirlo settles Turin derby, Inter fall to Roma

Juventus' midfielder Andrea Pirlo (C) celebrates with teammates after scoring during the Italian Serie A football match against Torino
at Juventus Stadium in Turin. (Photo: AFP/Marco Bertorello)

MILAN: A last-gasp screamer from Andrea Pirlo saw Juventus stretch their impressive record over Torino in a 2-1 'Derby della Mole' win as Roberto Mancini suffered his first defeat back in the Inter hot seat on Sunday (Nov 30).

Juve's 11th win of the campaign stretched their lead over title rivals Roma to six points, although Rudi Garcia's men restored their three-point deficit with a stirring 4-2 home win over Mancini's visitors at the Olympic Stadium.

Torino's last victory over the 30-time Italian champions was back in 1994-95, when they beat Juve home (3-2) and away (2-1).

At the end of a highly-entertaining clash between the Turin rivals, Massimiliano Allegri's hosts looked to be heading for a share of the spoils at rain-battered Juventus Stadium after Brazilian defender Bruno Peres levelled Arturo Vidal's 15th minute penalty for the hosts with a wonder-strike in the 22nd minute. It was the first time Torino had scored against Juventus in the league since a 2-2 draw between the sides in 2002.

But despite Torino showing plenty of enterprise in a thrilling second-half, the visitors were undone in the final seconds when Pirlo, from 25 yards, smashed Vidal's lay-off past goalkeeper Jean-Francois Gillet in the third minute of added on time. "We're all ecstatic. To win a derby in the final seconds and with 10 players gives us massive satisfaction," Pirlo told Sky Sport.

Juventus lost Swiss defender Stephan Lichsteiner for the final 12 minutes after he saw red for a second bookable offence - he will be suspended for next week's visit to Fiorentina.

Allegri admitted a draw would have been justified. "Maybe a draw would have been a fairer result, but sometimes football gives back what it has taken from you before," Allegri told Sky. "This win makes up for our defeat (last month) to Genoa. After their equaliser, it got more difficult for us, but the lads believed in it right till the end."

Inter hoped to grab at least a share of the spoils away to Roma a week after battling to a 1-1 derby draw in Mancini's first game back in charge after a six-year absence. But despite levelling twice thanks to Andrea Ranocchia and Pablo Daniel Osvaldo following strikes by Roma's Gervinho and Jose Holebas, the visitors were undone by a second-half brace from Miralem Pjanic.

Pjanic's first came on the hour when he latched on to Francesco Totti's delivery to beat Samir Handanovic in the Inter goal. A minute later, Mancini was sent from the stands for dissent after protesting a Holebas challenge on Fredy Guarin.

Pjanic sealed the points for Roma in the final minute of added-on time with a superbly-struck free-kick from 25 metres out on the left.

"I'm happy with my goals, we were superior to Inter and we deserved the win," Pjanic told Sky Sport. The win further underlined Roma's title credentials, and coach Rudi Garcia said: "It doesn't matter what the other teams do. We just have to keep focusing on ourselves. We we were superb today."

FIRST WIN IN SIX

Earlier, Jeremy Menez struck a second-half brace in a 2-0 win over Udinese as struggling AC Milan grabbed their first success in six matches to move up to provisional fifth place.

Both sides finished with 10 men after Maurizio Domizzi and Michael Essien were sent off within minutes of each other late in the second half. Domizzi's expulsion followed his tug on Keisuke Honda, which earned the hosts a penalty just after the hour.

Menez stepped up to wrong-foot Orestis Karnezis to claim his sixth league goal of the campaign on 65 minutes, and then beat the goalkeeper from open play 10 minutes later to secure the win.

Milan coach Filippo Inzaghi said: "It was our best game of the season. We gave the fans a great performance and there are a lot of positives to take from today." He played down suggestions the referee had got both the penalty decision and the expulsion of Domizzi wrong. "I don't think those influenced the game. We dominated from start to finish."

Udinese coach Andrea Stramaccioni complained: "We should have had a penalty when (Emmanuel) Badu was fouled, then came the incident that decided the game. Not so much for the penalty, more for the expulsion of Domizzi."

Italian league results on Sunday:

Cagliari 0 Fiorentina 4

Cesena 0 Genoa 3

Empoli 0 Atalanta 0

AC Milan 2 Udinese 0

Palermo 1 Parma 1

Juventus 2 Torino 1

Roma 4 Inter Milan 2