Inter midfielder Thiago Motta to turn his back on Brazil for Italy

Inter Milan's Brazilian-born midfielder Thiago Motta says he is prepared to commit himself to Italy's national team.

Motta holds an Italian passport through his grandfather.The 28-year-old, who twice played for a Brazil under-23 side but has never represented Brazil's full national team, came off the bench to score as Inter beat Parma 5-2 yesterday, while Dejan Stankovic scored a hat-trick as Rafael Benitez's side ended a run of four Serie A games without a win.

Second-placed Lazio were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Catania and missed a chance to close the gap on leaders AC Milan who have 30 points to Lazio's 27.

Sergio Floccari and Hernanes both missed chances to give Lazio the lead before Catania's Matias Silvestre headed in a corner from Cristian Llama in the 44th. Hernanes made amends just before half-time when he scored the equalizer having run unchallenged to the edge of the Catania box and shooting past Mariano Andujar.

Antonio Di Natale scored the second hat-trick of the day to inspire Udinese to a 3-1 victory over Napoli. Having scored two in the opening period he got his third by curling in a corner to the near post. Marek Hamsik scored for Napoli.

"He is a very good player and is good in a number of positions," Udinese coach Francesco Guidolin said. "I chose to play him further up so he could use his pace to exploit the gaps that Napoli's defence leave."

The match between Bologna and Chievo Verona was postponed after heavy snowfall at Bologna's Dell'Ara stadium, while the 0-0 draw between Brescia and Genoa was stopped in each half to allow groundstaff to remark the lines of the pitch after they had become obscured by falling snow.

In Germany, Werder Bremen's Hugo Almeida scored a hat-trick and was then sent off during his team's 3-0 win over St Pauli yesterday which stopped a freefall that had sent them tumbling down the Bundesliga table.

Portugal internationalist Almeida needed only a minute to score Werder's first goal of November in all competitions when he caught the St Pauli defence napping.

He doubled the lead in the 20th minute when Marko Marin broke quickly to send the striker through, and notched his hat-trick in the 64th, slotting through St Pauli keeper Thomas Kessler's legs for his ninth goal of the season.

Werder's win lifted them to 11th place on 18 points.

On Saturday, Borussia Dortmund cruised past bottom-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach 4-1 to remain seven points clear of Mainz at the top with their 12th win in 14 games.

Bayern Munich moved up to fifth on 23 points after crushing Eintracht Frankfurt 4-1.