Inter ends Juventus’ unbeaten streak of 49 matches

ROME - Reuters

Inter forward Diego Milito celebrates after converting a penalty kick. AFP photo

Juventus’s Serie A unbeaten run came to an end after 49 matches on Nov. 3 when Diego Milito’s double helped Inter Milan win 3-1 in a pulsating “Derby of Italy” clash in Turin.

The win leaves second-placed Inter one point behind champions and league leaders Juve and is a sign that Andrea Stramaccioni’s side are genuine challengers for the title.

“It hurts to lose, obviously it hurts, but it’s right to give credit to Inter, who played in a very intelligent way, with a great will to win,” said Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon. “I conceded three goals without having all that much to do but that can happen against the players that Inter have, they’re very good.”

Early goal

Juve scored straight from the kick off when Kwadwo Asamoah latched onto Mirko Vucinic’s through ball and scuffed his shot into the path of Arturo Vidal, who gleefully tapped home from the edge of the six yard box after 19 seconds.

Television replays showed Asamoah was offside when he collected Vucinic’s pass but the linesman’s flag stayed down.

“We were caught napping for the first goal, even if it was offside, but after that we reacted and played brilliantly. We deserved to win,” Milito told Sky Sport Italia. “It was a really hard match. We knew that it would be like that, we were up against the current champions, a great team like Juventus.”

Andrea Stramaccioni’s side got the equaliser they deserved just before the hour mark.

Penalty kick

Milito was clearly pulled back in the box by Marchisio as Inter worked a smart free-kick routine close to goal and the forward stepped up to smash the resulting penalty past Buffon.

The Argentine piled on the agony for the champions with a quarter of an hour left when Fredy Guarin’s powerful shot was pushed straight into his path by Buffon, who could only watch as Milito gobbled up the chance to make it 2-1 to the visitors.

Inter was always dangerous on the break and put the match to bed with a minute to go. Palacio collected Nagatomo’s deft through pass and slipped the ball under Buffon to warn the rest of Serie A that Inter is here to stay this season.

“Inter were at the top of their game right until the end, and we accept this defeat... fundamentally credit has to be given to Inter,” said Juve assistant manager Angelo Alessio.

Juventus won last season’s title without losing a match and had last suffered defeat against Parma in the penultimate round of the 2010/11 season.

The overall Serie A record run was the 58 games by AC Milan in the early 1990s.