Inter Milan beats Genoa 1-0 in Serie A

MILAN — Inter Milan's revival gathered pace on Tuesday with a 1-0 win at Genoa that moved the club into the top half of the Serie A table.

However, the entertainment of the night was to be found in Sicily, where Siena progressed to the quarterfinals of the Italian Cup by beating Palermo on 3-0 penalties following a thrilling 4-4 draw.

Josip Ilicic scored a hat trick for cup holder Palermo, including two penalties, but missed his spot-kick in the shootout.

In Genoa, Japanese international Yuto Nagatomo headed the winner in the 67th minute, though the victory margin would have been greater were it not for a glaring error by misfiring striker Diego Milito.

It was Milito's first game against Genoa, where he spent two and a half highly prolific seasons. The Argentine left in 2009 to join Inter.

Genoa almost leveled in the closing stages but keeper Julio Cesar pulled off a stunning save to deny Miguel Veloso.

Inter's fourth league win in five matches leaves it level on points with sixth-place Palermo. It is still 10 points behind Serie A leaders Juventus and Udinese.

"It was a good game against a team which was very defensive and had its first shot after 80 minutes and then tried everything in the closing stages," Inter coach Claudio Ranieri said.

"It's a little step but it's a good one. It was important to get this result after the win against Fiorentina at the weekend."

There was more good news for Inter as Diego Forlan returned to action, two months after injuring his leg in a World Cup qualifying match against Paraguay. The Uruguay striker came off the bench 10 minutes from full time.

Inter's first real chance came in the 12th minute when Giampaolo Pazzini found Milito in space but his effort was deflected narrowly wide of the left post.

Goal opportunities were few and far between in a match littered with errors.

Andrea Poli was guilty of one of the most glaring of these on the half hour mark when he blasted the ball woefully wide, much to the amusement of the home fans.

Inter went even closer three minutes later. Genoa goalkeeper Sebastien Frey — who spent two seasons at Inter — did brilliantly to keep out Walter Samuel's header. The rebound fell to Samuel again and he poked the ball through to Milito, who shot straight at Frey from point-blank range.