Inter secure fifth successive victory

January 19, 2011

Christian Chivu (right) celebrates his winning goal as Inter Milan maintained their unbeaten run under coach Leonardo.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Italian champions Inter Milan record their fifth straight win under new coach Leonardo
• Inter defeat Cesena 3-2 to move up to fourth place in Serie A, six points behind AC Milan
• Roma and Sampdoria are both through to the quarterfinals of the Italian Cup

(CNN) -- Italian champions Inter Milan recorded their fifth straight win under new coach Leonardo, defeating Cesena 3-2 at the San Siro despite the visitors coming back from 2-0 down.
Samuel Eto'o gave the home side a 14th-minute lead when firing in his 24th goal of the season.
And, within a minute, Inter had doubled their advantage when Goran Pandev set up Diego Milito to tap home from just six yards out.
But Cesena refused to lie down and scored twice within six minutes in a frantic opening 45 minutes.
First, Erjon Bogdani was given far too much space to turn and shoot home low into the corner of the net in the 23rd minute.
Then, just six minutes later, Cesena remarkably drew level when former Inter midfielder Luis Suarez played the ball over the home defence for Emanuele Giaccherini to volley home.
But the first-half scoring was still not over -- and Romanian defender Christian Chivu put the home side ahead once again on the stroke of half time when he burst into the box to head home Maicon's cross.
That was the end of the scoring, but not the chances, and Eto'o should have added his second of the game after the break but somehow managed to hit the crossbar from just eight yards out.
And any chance Cesena had of getting back into the game was finally extinguished when Giaccherini was sent off for a second bookable offence.
The result moves Inter up to fourth place in the Serie A table, six points behind leaders and rivals AC Milan but with a game in hand.
Meanwhile, Roma are through to the quarterfinals of the Italian Cup after beating rivals Lazio 2-1 in a match marred by crowd trouble.
Roma took the lead eight minutes after the break when Marco Borriello scored from the penalty spot after Stephan Lichsteiner's handball in the area.
Lazio levelled just four minutes later when Hernanes also scored from the spot after Mauro Zarate had been fouled in the area.
However, Simplicio scored the winning goal 13 minutes from the end, firing home with a well-struck right-foot shot.
Police made four arrests before and after the match after trouble between rival fans which resulted in a teenage Lazio fan being taken to hospital with a knife wound to his leg.
Sampdoria have also reached the quarterfinals after defeating Udinese on penalties following a 2-2 draw after extra time.

The Genoa-based side scored all their five spot-kicks while Argentine striker German Denis missed his penalty as Udinese went out 5-4.