Fans furious as dire form continues
Inter Milan boss Claudio Ranieri has said his men will keep fighting after their dire form continued with an embarrassing 1-0 home defeat to bottom side Novara on Sunday.
The loss means Inter have claimed just one point from their last four league games, conceding 10 goals, and risk finishing outside the top three and missing out on qualification for next season's Champions League.
They are fifth with 36 points from 23 games, 11 points behind leaders AC Milan and six behind third-placed Lazio.
Sixth-placed AS Roma can leapfrog Inter in the standings if they win at Siena later on Monday.
"We'll know how to react," said Ranieri, whose side had lost their previous game 4-0 at Roma.
"We have to keep calm. With hard work we'll pull out of this, as we have done in the past. We aren't giving up".
After the game, Italy's nine-time motorcycling world champion Valentino Rossi, an Inter fan, quipped via Twitter that the men in white who beat Ranieri's side on Sunday were actually Real Madrid, not Novara. A 3-1 defeat at Novara early in the season cost Gian Piero Gasperini his job, prompting Ranieri's arrival.
Ranieri is not thought to be in danger is getting fired yet, even though he took a lot of flak from fans at the San Siro on Sunday.
The former Valencia, Chelsea, Roma and Juventus boss appeared to have turned Inter around before the current form crisis.
They had notched up a run of seven consecutive Serie A wins, including an impressive 1-0 victory over champions Milan in the city derby, and looked like they might be able to haul themselves into the title race.
With Zlatan Ibrahimovic suspended, 19-year-old Stephan El Shaarawy took command of Milan's attack to steer them to a 2-1 comeback win at fourth-placed Udinese and put them top.
It was the rebound of an El Shaarawy shot that Maxi Lopez fired in for Milan's equaliser on Saturday and then the young forward produced a fine finish to score the winner himself five minutes from time.
Milan have a two-point advantage over second-placed Juve who, however, have two games in hand after their visit to Bologna became their second game postponed due to snow in less than two weeks. Lazio came from two goals down to beat second-bottom Cesena at home.
Seventh-placed Napoli take on Chievo Verona (14th) later on Monday.
Sono bellissimo...
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