Rafael Benitez outburst fuels debate on future at Inter Milan

Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti refused to answer questions on the future of Rafael Benitez yesterday, but admitted the Spaniard's rant following their Fifa Club World Cup triumph had been "a bit out of place".

Benitez called on the club to back him in the transfer market in January or sack him after guiding Inter to a 3-0 win over Congolese side TP Mazembe in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

On their return to Milan yesterday, Benitez was the hot topic, but Moratti preferred to concentrate on the club ending a wonderful 2010 with another piece of silverware.

"I'm not going to talk about Benitez now," he said.

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When asked if Benitez's post-match comments had put a dampener on the achievement, he added: "No, not for now. They were a bit out of place, perhaps, but they haven't spoiled anything for now. At the moment anyone who loves Inter is happy."

Benitez has come under fire recently with Inter lying seventh in Serie A a season after claiming the Scudetto as well as the Coppa Italia and Champions League crowns under his predecessor Jose Mourinho.

His squad has been decimated by injuries, and the former Valencia and Liverpool manager believes it is important to strengthen the squad in January, if only to show the board have full confidence in him.

He said after Saturday's victory: "There are three possibilities for the club. One, 100 per cent support for the coach and buy four or five players to build a stronger team with competition among the players to be able to carry on winning matches and trophies.

"Two, carry on like this without a project, without planning, and go ahead with one person to blame, for the whole season.

"The third," he added, "is to speak to my agent to reach an agreement if there is not this support. Simple."

In Italy's domestic action, Serie A leaders AC Milan went down to a 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Roma, with former Milan player Marco Borriello scoring the only goal of the game in the 69th minute. Their closest rivals, Napoli and Lazio, both enjoyed victories yesterday, with Napoli sneaking an injury-time winner against Lecce thanks to an Edinson Cavani goal. Lazio beat Udinese 3-2, but their winner came courtesy of a Cristian Zapata own goal just two minutes from the end.

Fourth-placed Juventus were held to a 1-1 draw at Chievo, with the home side grabbing their equaliser two minutes into stoppage time. Fabio Quagliarella had given the visitors a 31st-minute lead, but Sergio Pellissier earned mid-table Chievo a point.

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Meanwhile, in Benitez's home country, league leaders Barcelona strolled to a 5-1 away win - their tenth straight victory - at city rivals Espanyol on Saturday.In a game of eight bookings, the visitors were 2-0 up at the interval thanks to goals by Xavi and Pedrito, who made it 3-0 on the hour mark.

Pablo Osvaldo pulled one back for Espanyol, but two late goals from David Villa cemented the win and underlined the challenge facing Arsenal when they come up against Barcelona in the Champions League. Second-placed Real Madrid kept in touch with a 1-0 win over Sevilla thanks to a late Angel Di Maria strike, but it was an ill-tempered match which saw red cards for Real's Ricardo Carvalho and the visitors' Mouhamadou Dabo - plus a host of yellow cards.

In Holland, snow put paid to yesterday's Ajax versus Feyenoord clash, while in the only Sunday fixture to go ahead PSV Eindhoven beat Roda JC 3-1.

In Germany, Bayer Leverkusen and SC Freiburg shared a 2-2 draw, while Bayern Munich enjoyed a thrilling 5-3 away win at VfB Stuttgart, featuring a hat-trick by Mario Gomez. Bayern, who had led 3-0 at half-time, went 4-1 up in the second half, but were kept on their toes by their struggling opponents.

Runaway league leaders Borussia Dortmund suffered their first away defeat of the season, going down 1-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt, whose 87th-minute winner came from Theofanis Gekas. A draw would have given Dortmund 44 points and a new record for the first half of the season. Third-placed Hannover also lost on Saturday, losing 3-1 to Nurnberg. Second-placed Mainz, however, won 4-2 at St Pauli.

In France, Rennes' 1-0 win over Valenciennes put them into a three-way tie at the top with Paris St Germain and Lille, while in Portugal league leaders FC Porto won last night's late clash at Pacos de Ferreira 3-0 .

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