A disastrous own goal from Mauricio Isla handed Inter Milan a 1-0 victory at Udinese and a nine-point lead over second-placed Juventus, whose slim title hopes suffered a huge blow as a Sergio Pellissier hat-trick earned Chievo a 3-3 draw in a thrilling match in Turin. Just two weeks before the crucial title decider between Juve and Inter in Turin, Jose Mourinho's champions extended their lead and, with just eight games remaining, they look certain to land a fourth straight scudetto crown.

But Inter coach Jose Mourinho insists the race is not over with eight games still to play. "We know that nine points with eight matches left is a big lead," said Mourinho. "We're more comfortable and there's a little bit more pressure on Juve. Of course they're not happy because they've dropped two points at home. We didn't win the title tonight, we know that we need 15 points more which means five wins, which we should be able to achieve."

We're more comfortable and there's a little bit more pressure on Juve
Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho.

But this victory was handed to Inter by Isla's horrendous error. As he ran back towards his own goal, he ran onto the ball as France captain Patrick Vieira took it around goalkeeper Emanuele Benardi, only for the Udinese defender to inadvertently knock it into his own net. Until then there had been little to separate the two sides.

The most controversial moment of the first half came when Udinese's Fabio Quagliarella crumpled to the ground in the box under a challenge from goalkeeper Julio Cesar, but the referee decided the forward had gone down too easily and waved away penalty appeals. That was the only incident of note in a dire first 45 minutes, but things improved after the break.

Gokhan Inler fired a shot just past the upright and Julio Cesar tipped a Quagliarella effort onto the roof of the net as the hosts pressed. Up the other end, Dejan Stankovic slid onto a teasing right-wing cross from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but saw his poke trickle just wide. But then 13 minutes from time came Isla's blunder to settle the match.