Milan beat Cagliari to keep Juventus in sight

AC Milan kept up their pursuit of Serie A leaders Juventus when they cruised to a 2-0 win at Cagliari on Sunday.

The result lifted Milan to second place on 16 points from seven matches, five points behind Juventus, who maintained their 100 per cent winning start to the season by beating Messina 1-0 on Saturday.

Milan's city rivals Inter also enjoyed an easy victory, crushing Livorno 5-0 at the San Siro stadium to climb to third on 15 points.

The game was less than 30 seconds old at Cagliari when Milan striker Alberto Gilardino wriggled free of three defenders and poked the ball past keeper Fabian Carini.

For a time it seemed that the home side might strike back but in the 27th minute Andriy Shevchenko effectively ended the contest, unleashing a left-footed shot that dipped underneath Carini's outstretched arms and into the bottom corner.

The Ukrainian almost got a second when he fired against the post shortly after the restart, but throughout the second half Milan seemed more concerned with protecting their lead.

Even without first-choice strikers Adriano and Obafemi Martins, Inter had few difficulties making it four wins out of four at the San Siro.

Livorno's top striker Cristiano Lucarelli was suspended, but their real problems were all in defence as became clear after 11 minutes when Inter defender Marco Materazzi took advantage of a failure to clear a corner to volley his side ahead.

LOW CROSS

Inter doubled their lead eight minutes later when a low cross by Giuseppe Favalli threaded through a group of players to present Julio Cruz with an easy finish.

The uphill task facing Livorno assumed mountainous proportions when midfielder Francesco Coco was sent off for a foul on Ze Maria two minutes after the restart.

Inter struck twice in four minutes as their opponents struggled to re-organise.

Argentine international Esteban Cambiasso fired in from the edge of the area after another poor clearance rolled invitingly into his path. Ivan Cordoba was then left unmarked at the far post to nudge in a Materazzi header.

Striker Alvaro Recoba strolled through a pack of defenders to complete the rout in the 61st minute.

In Rome, Lazio needed a late poacher's goal by defender Luciano Zauri to snatch all three points against Fiorentina.

After an evenly-balanced first half Lazio started to apply the pressure, but were repeatedly denied by Fiorentina keeper Sebastian Frey.

The Frenchman came off best in one-on-ones against strikers Tommaso Rocchi and Goran Pandev, but when Christian Manfredini's shot spilled from his hands in the 81st minute Zauri pounced.

Elsewhere, two goals by defender Vittorio Tosto gave promoted Ascoli a 2-1 win over Sampdoria and AS Roma suffered a second defeat in three matches when they lost 1-0 at Empoli.