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Internazionale extended their lead at the top of Serie A to eight points after Diego's Milito's penalty five minutes from time earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Fiorentina in Milan.

Inter were soundly beaten at Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday while Fiorentina qualified for the last 16 for the first time in 10 years with victory over Lyon.

But Milito ensured Jose Mourinho's men bounced back when he was fouled by Gianluca Comotto before picking himself up to fire home his ninth goal of the season.

The home side dominated for large spells and Sulley Muntari selfishly shot wide after 14 minutes with Samuel Eto'o unmarked in the middle.

And Milito nearly opened the scoring just two minutes later but was denied by a smart stop from Sebastien Frey in the Fiorentina goal.

Inter did have the ball in the back of the net after the break but Walter Samuel's header was ruled out for a foul on Dario Dainelli.

And Frey was forced to tip Milito's curling effort wide on 56 minutes while Muntari was unable to stay on his feet to get to the rebound.

The visitors went close to snatching an unlikely victory with 10 minutes left but Alberto Gilardino's shot hit the post with Júlio César beaten.

He was left to rue that miss when Milito got the breakthrough he was looking for all afternoon when he was tripped by Comotto after a superb turn in the box.

And the Argentinian - who bagged 24 goals for Genoa last season - sent Frey the wrong way to score his fourth goal in five games.

The defeat leaves Cesare Prandelli's Fiorentina languishing in 10th with just two wins in eight league matches.

Meanwhile, Inter have not lost a Serie A fixture since their 1-0 defeat at Sampdoria in September and enjoy an eight point advantage over second-placed Juventus who suffered a shock defeat at Cagliari.

Juve, who lost at Bordeaux in the Champions League in midweek, have struggled to find fluency for most of the season under rookie coach Ciro Ferrara but were slightly unfortunate in Sardinia.

Nene opened the scoring with a rocket from just outside the edge of the area after half an hour and after sustained Juve pressure, including a strong penalty appeal, Alessandro Matri broke at the other end to seal victory for Cagliari late on.

Promoted Parma moved up to joint fourth with Sampdoria, beaten 3-0 by sixth-placed Genoa in Saturday's derby, thanks to a 1-1 home draw with Napoli.

Cagliari are seventh with Bari, Roma and Fiorentina just a point further back after 14 games.

Bari, who came up last season and have rejected two recent takeover attempts, came from behind to win 2-1 at home to bottom club Siena while Roma continued to improve with their own 2-1 comeback victory at lowly Atalanta.

Lazio's disappointing season drags on after a 0-0 draw against Bologna in Rome with their former coach Delio Rossi losing in his first league game in charge of Palermo, beaten 1-0 at Chievo.

George Scott / Eurosport / Reuters