Sun Apr 27 11:49:49 2008

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Inter moves to within one win of title

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Milan, Italy (Sports Network) - Inter Milan handed Cagliari a 2-1 defeat at the San Siro on Sunday, meaning that the Nerazzuri can clinch their third straight Serie A title with a win against rivals AC Milan next week.

Inter would have clinched on Sunday if Roma failed to beat Torino, but the capital club recorded a 4-1 win behind two goals from Alessandro Mancini to keep the title race open for one more week.

Julio Cruz put Inter ahead in the 22nd minute and Marco Materazzi's first goal in the league with eight minutes to play secured the points before Cagliari's Davide Biondini scored deep into stoppage time.

Juventus locked up third place with a 5-2 win over Lazio as Giorgio Chiellini scored twice for Juve, while the race for fourth place tightened up with Fiorentina's 2-2 draw against Sampdoria and AC Milan's 4-1 win over Livorno.

The Viola took a 2-1 lead into stoppage time but Sampdoria's Daniele Gastaldello scored in the final minutes to earn his side a draw, which kept Sampdoria within four points.

AC Milan moved to within two points with three games to play as the Rossoneri got three goals from Filippo Inzaghi en route to the easy win, which also dropped Livorno into last place.

The relegation battle also shifted on Sunday with both Empoli and Reggina earning three points.

Empoli got a goal from Ignazio Abate 15 minutes into the game to beat Genoa 1-0, while Reggina's Francesco Cozza scored two second-half goals to lead his team to a 2-1 win against Parma.

The results moved Empoli out of the relegation zone, while Parma is second from the bottom with 31 points. Reggina is still in the bottom three but is level with Empoli on 33 points, while three other sides are just two points clear.

One of those clubs is Catania Calcio, which dropped a 2-1 contest to Udinese, while Napoli's match with Siena finished 0-0, as did the Palermo and Atalanta contest.