EUROPEAN ROUND-UP:INTER MILAN saw off one of their potential Serie A rivals with a 2-0 victory over in-form Fiorentina at the San Siro last night.

Second half goals by Argentinian international Esteban Cambiasso and 17-year-old Mario Balotelli maintained Inter's four-point lead at the top of Serie A.

After a scoreless first half Inter made the breakthrough on 54 minutes when Patrick Vieira got to the end line and cut the ball back for Cambiasso to slot home from close range.

Seven minutes later Balotelli beat the offside trap to run on to Julio Cruz' pass and applied a cool finish to make sure of the points.

Second-placed Roma underlined their title aspirations by coming from behind to beat the UEFA Cup hopefuls Udinese 3-1.

Antonio Di Natale headed in at the far post to give Udinese the lead, prompting Roma goalkeeper Doni to go eyeball-to-eyeball with team mate Christian Panucci, who was marking the Italy striker.

Roma deservedly equalised when Mirko Vucinic chested down David Pizarro's pass to finish and Rodrigo Taddei put them ahead when his shot hit the woodwork twice before rolling in.

Ludovic Giuly grabbed a third late on.

Real Madrid stayed on course to retain the Spanish title after they recovered from a first-half sending-off to clinch a 1-0 win over relegation-threatened Real Murcia at the Bernabeu yesterday.

Real, who had won just one of their previous four matches, looked to be in trouble when fullback Miguel Torres was given a straight red for ploughing into Murcia midfielder Dani Aquino on 20 minutes.

But despite a poor performance they managed to make off with the points thanks to a flash of brilliance from Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder, who curled a shot into the corner on the hour after dispossessing a defender on the edge of the area. With six matches left to play, Real lead Barcelona by nine points.