Inter and Juventus take the Serie A lead

Inter Milan and Juventus moved atop the Serie A standings Sunday, following up their Champions League wins with league victories. AC Milan also won, routing previously perfect Lazio 4-1 for its first points of the season.

Inter, the three-time defending champion, won 3-1 at Torino with an own-goal created by Amantino Mancini and scores from Maicon and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Amauri scored his second goal in two games as Juventus beat Cagliari 1-0 with goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon exiting at halftime with an apparent thigh problem.

"Right now it's us and Juve, but we'll understand the standings better once the December break comes," Inter coach Jose Mourinho said. "Milan will bounce back and so will Roma."

Inter and Juventus lead with seven points each. Lazio, Palermo, Catania and Atalanta are next with six points each.

Milan, which lost its opening two matches, got goals from Clarence Seedorf, Gianluca Zambrotta, Alexandre Pato and Kaka. Lazio's new Argentine forward Mauro Zarate scored his league-leading fourth goal for Lazio.

"We realized over these past few days that we're not just great single players, but a strong group," Kaka said. "You've already seen some improvement and you're going to see more over the next few games."

Milan visits Reggina in Wednesday's midweek round, then faces Inter in the Milan derby next weekend.

Palermo got goals from Uruguay's Edison Cavani and Cesare Bovo in a 2-1 win over Genoa.

Napoli moved to five points after holding on a for a scoreless draw at Udinese with 10 men.

Fiorentina has four points after beating Bologna 1-0 with a goal from Alberto Gilardino, the Italy forward's fifth in all competitions this season.

On Saturday, AS Roma snapped out of its early season funk with a 3-0 win over Reggina and Catania beat Atalanta 1-0 to end the Bergamo club's perfect start.

Also Sunday, Lecce-Siena and Sampdoria-Chievo Verona each ended 1-1.

In midweek action, Inter beat Panathinaikos 2-0 and Juventus posted a 1-0 win over Zenit St. Petersburg in the Champions League.

"Inter is the team to beat, but we're pretty good too," Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri said.

At Turin's Stadio Olimpico, Mourinho surrounded Ibrahimovic with Mancini and Adriano in attack. Mancini took a pass from Adriano and sent a cross toward the box that was deflected in by Torino defender Marco Pisano in the 24th.

Two minutes later, Ibrahimovic began the play that ended with Maicon scoring with a shot from the edge of the area that banged in off the underside of the crossbar.

Ibrahimovic scored his second goal of the season in the 51st by slipping behind the defense on a counterattack.

Elvis Abbruscato pulled one back for Torino in the 76th, then hit the crossbar in the 86th.

"Games last 90 minutes and it's very tough to dominate the entire time, especially when you play against a well organized team with a coach that isn't afraid to attack and who always kept three forwards in," Mourinho said, referring to Torino manager Giovanni De Biasi.

"Inter was the stronger side today because it scored three goals and could have scored more," Mourinho said. "They scored a goal and were motivated at the end but our goalkeeper Julio Cesar, who was on vacation for 75 minutes, made some big saves, and that's what president Massimo Moratti pays him for."

In Sardinia, with David Trezeguet out facing knee surgery and captain Alessandro Del Piero banged up after scoring the winner against Zenit, Vincenzo Iaquinta set up Amauri's goal with a slight touch inside the area.

Amauri, who also scored in Juve's 1-0 win over Udinese last weekend, had a goal disallowed two minutes in for a foul by Iaquinta.

Buffon's replacement, Alex Manninger, preserved the win with a save from Alessandro Matri in the 90th.

"There could have been more goals for us if we had figured out how to take advantage of our chances, and for them with Matri, who nearly tied it," Ranieri said, adding that he took Buffon out more for precautionary reasons. "Tomorrow we'll see what the doctors say."

Buffon said he would be out a week at most.

"I don't think it's anything serious," he said.

Milan has now won two straight after beating FC Zurich in the UEFA Cup on Thursday.

Seedorf put the Rossoneri ahead in the eighth, bouncing a pass off a Lazio defender and back to himself before shooting.

Zarate equalized in the 26th, taking a pass from Goran Pandev and splitting two defenders.

In the 35th, Zambrotta surprised Lazio goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo from 31 meters (yards). Pato headed in a cross from Marek Jankulovski in the 49th and Kaka connected with a long, curving shot that landed in the corner of the net in the 60th.

Ronaldinho replaced his fellow Brazilian Pato for the final 19 minutes and hit the crossbar in added time.

Item Reviewed: Inter and Juventus take the Serie A lead Description: Rating: 5 Reviewed By: Sakura District, Inc

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