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Anorthosis hold Inter Milan

November 05, 2008 07:41 IST

Striker Julio Cruz headed in 10 minutes from time to spare defender Nicolas Burdisso's blushes and give Inter Milan a 3-3 draw at Anorthosis Famagusta in Champions League Group B on Tuesday.

A win would have put the Serie A champions through to the last 16 but instead the group leaders gifted Anorthosis three goals.

Tuesday night's results

Anorthosis 3 - 3 Inter Milan
AS Roma 3 - 1 Chelsea
Barcelona 1 - 1 Basel
Cluj 1 - 2 Bordeaux
Liverpool 1 - 1 Atlético M
Marseille 3 - 0 PSV
Sporting 1 - 0 S. Donetsk
W. Bremen 0 - 3 Panathinaikos

Mario Balotelli and Marco Materazzi twice put Inter ahead in the first half but poor headers from Burdisso and Esteban Cambiasso allowed Cedric Bardon and Georgios Panagi to twice equalise.

Argentina defender Burdisso then got in another muddle with a header and Nikolaos Frousos fired home five minutes after the break before substitute Cruz nodded in Balotelli's free kick.

Inter, who beat the Cypriots 1-0 at home two weeks ago, took the lead on 13 minutes when Zlatan Ibrahimovic's swerving free kick was parried by goalkeeper Arian Beqaj and Balotelli slotted home despite protests that he was offside.

The Cypriots hit back on the half hour when Burdisso tried to head a long ball back to Julio Cesar only to find his goalkeeper standing next him, leaving Bardon with an empty net.

Defender Materazzi put the visitors back in front on 44 minutes when he headed in Balotelli's corner with the home defence appealing for a push.

Moments later the hosts were level again when Inter failed to deal with a corner and Cambiasso headed the ball against the back of Panagi's head and it flew in.

Jose Mourinho's side had a number of chances to snatch victory, with Cambiasso feeling he had an effort which crossed the line.

Inter, who had drawn two of their last three league games and only beat Reggina 3-2 on Saturday with a stoppage time goal, have eight points with Anorthosis on five with two games left.

Panathinaikos have four points after triumphing 3-0 at Werder Bremen, who remain on three.

Source: REUTERS
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