One of Serie A biggest derby was played Sunday night and the blue and black side of Milan won the war. Inter Milan playing as the ‘away’ side won the derby for the first time in two seasons, thanks to a second half strike from Diego Milito who capitalised on an Ignazio Abate mistake. Juventus and Napoli dropped points at home; Lazio got their first win of the season and Catania’s home match against Roma was abandoned due to torrential rain.

Saturday 14th January

There was only one game played on Saturday night and it was Catania’s tie with Roma. They game was set at 1-1 when the referee made the right call to go call off the game due to the heavy downpour. Catania took the lead when a Francesco Lodi free kick found Nicola Legrottaglie who headed home. Just moments later a Francesco Totti corner was headed home by Daniele De Rossi. The remaining 25 minutes will be played at a later date, possibly in mid-February.

Sunday 15th January

The lunch time saw Lazio earn a hard fought home win over a dogged Atalanta side. A goal came in each half, the first from the penalty spot which Hernanes converted. In the first minute of  added time in the second half Miroslav Klose got the goal that all but sealed the win with a beautiful turn and finish. Atalanta did play most of the second half with ten men as they had Stefano Lucchini sent off after he received a second yellow card.

Lecce, now under new boss Serge Cosmi surprised everyone as they traveled to Florence  and returned with all three points after a David Di Michele strike was enough to separate the teams.

Another new manager who got off to a good start was Roberto Donadoni. His Parma side managed to win 3-1 in a game that provided a landmark in the history of calcio. Parma raced into a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Jonathan Biabiany and Francesco Valiani. Siena Paolo Grossi got one back for Siena - his strike being the 60,000th goal ever scored in the Serie A. Parma got the third that effectively killed the game off when in stoppage time Sebastian Giovinco found the net.

Chievo got back to winning ways after last week’s defeat to AS Roma thanks to a home victory over struggling Palermo. Paolo Sammarco got the winning goal for the Flying Donkeys in the second half. We could be seeing the return of Devis Mangia back at the Palermo helm quicker than we thought.

There was a relegation six pointer as Cesena took on Novara and the home side were came out 3-1 victors thanks to a double from Adrian Mutu. The Romanian forward scored the first two, the second coming from the penalty spot. Leandro Rinaudo, who was making his debut for Novara, scored an own goal to make it 3-0. Cesena had the chance to make it 4-0 but Andrea Candreva had his spot kick saved. Japanese striker Takayuki Morimoto grabbed a late consolation goal for the visitors.

Genoa edged out third-placed Udinese in a five goal thriller which was the game of the weekend for the neutral fan. Udinese took the lead when Damiano Ferronetti headed home fifteen minutes. But the home side hit back with aplomb with goals from Andreas Granqvist, Bosko Jankovic and Rodrigo Palacio. Udinese then got a late penalty on which Antonio Di Natale tucked it away to make it a very nervy last fifteen minutes, but, Genoa held out.

Juventus are still unbeaten but really should of won the game at home to Cagliari. Juventus took the lead after a fine attacking move that ended when Mirko Vucinic swept the ball home. But Cagliari hit back early in the second half with a brilliant strike by their playmaker Andrea Cossu who let fly from 20 yards out with a left foot strike that left Gigi Buffon with little chance.

The big game on Sunday night was the Milan derby and Inter Milan completely spoilt the party for AC Milan as they won the game 1-0. Inter had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside early on in the game when Thiago Motta headed home. But in the second half Inter struck when Ignazio Abate fail to intercept Javier Zanetti’s cross field pass to Diego Milito who took advantage of the space and time afforded to him to charge in on goal and slide the ball past Christian Abbiati. Incredibly, with this result Claudio Ranieri still has not lost a derby match as a manager in Italy.

The Monday night game saw Napoli take on Bologna. Continuing with their inconsistent form, Napoli could only muster a draw against Bolognad despite playing at home. Bologna took the lead when Robert Acquafresca scored after beating the offside trap. Napoli got an equaliser midway through the second half and it came from the penalty spot with Edinson Cavani coolly converting.

A very interesting weekend in Serie A and one which has left the title race wide open. Inter, despite their terrible start to the campaign have reasserted themselves as challengers for one of the three Champions League spots and perhaps even a shout at the title.