Italian Serie A Roundup, Sep. 18

By foxsports
Published

AC Milan drew 1-1 with Catania after a scoreless second half in the Serie A on Saturday.

Ciro Capuano gave Catania the lead in the 27th minute and enjoyed the better of the half, but Filippo Inzaghi equalized in first-half injury time.

Inzaghi, who partnered Milan newcomer Zlatan Ibrahimovic in attack, linked with Ronaldinho and struck from close range.

"It was a tough game, but at least we were able to leave with something," Ronaldinho said. "Unfortunately we were unable to finish with a great home victory, but sometimes it goes like that.

"We just have to keep working away, but it is two points lost."

Catania came close to scoring in the opening minutes when Maxi Lopez and Adrian Ricchiuti forced Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati into two quick saves.

The Sicilian side took the lead with a wonder strike from Capuano. Milan's defense failed to clear the ball sufficiently and Capuano fired in a long-range volley that left Abbiati no chance.

"At the start Catania packed the midfield and that meant ours had to use a lot of energy up trying to break through it," Milan coach Massimo Allegri said.

"It was a fantastic strike and it took us the rest of the half to recover from."

Catania nearly doubled its lead in the 34th, but Matias Silvestre flashed his header wide of the post.

Inzaghi brought Milan level with a typical finish. Ronaldinho hit the ball across the face of goal and Inzaghi was on hand to scramble the ball home from close range.

In the second half, Milan dominated, but was unable to find a way past Catania goalkeeper Marinao Andujar, who produced athletic saves to deny Alessandro Nesta and Clarence Seedorf.

In the only other match, Lazio beat Fiorentina 2-1 to record its second win of the season.

Adem Ljajic gave Fiorentina the lead with a penalty after Cristian Ledesma brought down Alessio Cerci, but the Argentine made amends by equalizing for Lazio before halftime.

Libor Kozak scored the winner for the Rome side. He reacted quickest to slot home the rebound after Fiorentina goalkeeper Sebastien Frey denied Hernanes.