Juventus beat Inter to go on top

Milan: Juventus returned to the top of Serie A with a 2-1 victory over Inter at San Siro on Saturday night, goals from Mirko Vucinic and Claudio Marchisio either side of a Maicon thunderbolt ensured the visitors maintained their unbeaten record.

The hosts started the match brightly, with Gianluigi Buffon forced into a good save to deny Giampaolo Pazzini before Esteban Cambiasso's hooked effort sailed just past the post.

With just over 10 minutes gone and against the run of play Juventus took the lead through Mirko Vucinic, the former Roma forward was the quickest to react, after Luca Castellazzi parried Alessandro Matri’s effort, smashing the ball into the back of the net.

The goal seemed to open the game up, with both sides spurning chances before a great finish from Maicon brought the Nerazzurri back on level terms, the Brazilian latched onto a neat pass from Wesley Sneider before unleashing a powerful drive past Buffon.

On 33 minutes the visitors struck again through Claudio Marchisio, the midfielder coolly slotted past Castellazzi after a neat one-two with Matri to put the Bianconeri back in the driving seat.

Then just before half time the away side could have had a penalty after Castellazzi clumsily brought down Marchisio but the Italy internationals protests were waved away by referee Nicola Rizzoli.

The second half began with both sides creating numerous opportunities, before Vucinic missed a great opportunity to grab his second of the night, with the Montenigro international firing straight at Castellazzi from two yards out.

The match had started to slow down with a lot of needless fouls ensuring that chances were at a premium, however just before the hour mark Andrea Pirlo created some space for himself on the edge of the box, but the former Milan midfeilder’s drive flew straight into Castellazzi's arms.

With three minutes left substitute Alessandro Del Piero missed a glorious opportunity to kill the game off, the Juve legend found some space in the left side of the area but could only drag his shot wide of the far post in what was the last real chance of the game.

This result sees Juventus regain top spot in Serie A who face Napoli in another huge game for the Bianconeri, while struggling Inter host Cagliari in the next round of Serie A.