体坛英语新闻：Inter beat Cagliari 2-1 at home

ROME, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Inter Milan beat Cagliari 2-1 at home on Saturday thanks to goals from Thiago Motta and Philippe Coutinho.

Motta helped Inter break the deadlock nine minutes after the restart with a contraversial goal.

Substitute Ricky Alvarez whipped into the box for Pazzini to glance it into the path of Motta, who controlled and tapped in from close range. However, replays showed he was offside and may well have also handled.

Six minutes later, Coutinho got Inter's second goal and again Alvarez was involved. The Argentine threaded through for Coutinho, who picked his spot and rolled a right-foot low strike into the near bottom corner before Daniele Conti could complete his sliding block.

Cagliari did pull one back in the final minute, as Radja Nainggolan released an angled drive and Larrivey sprung the offside trap to redirect it from seven yards with the tip of his boot.

Cagliari sacked Massimo Ficcadenti last week to make way for Davide Ballardini, their third Coach of the campaign.

The match exploded into life at the 20th minute when Giampaolo Pazzini gathered on the edge of the box and spun round to hit an absolute screamer from the edge of the box that Michael Agazzi flapped on to the crossbar.

Inter were again denied by the frame of the goal a few minutes later, as this time Mauro Zarate's free kick curled over the wall and was again fingertipped on to the top corner of the crossbar by an impressive Agazzi.