Football: Three sent off as Inter lose control

INTERNAZIONALE LOST 2-0 at home to Parma in an Italian Cup semi- final first-leg match last night, ending the tie with eight men after three players were sent off for dissent in the space of two minutes.

The Argentina midfielder Juan Veron scored Parma's first goal with a right-foot volley from the edge of the penalty area after 76 minutes. No sooner was the ball in the net than the whole Inter team surrounded the referee, Stefano Braschi, and claimed vehemently there had been a foul in the build-up to the goal.

They appeared to be saying that Parma's defender Paolo Vanoli had fouled Inter's Francesco Colonnese before he gave the ball to Faustino Asprilla, who crossed for Veron to score. Television replays suggested that, if anything, it was Vanoli who was fouled.

Braschi first sent Inter's captain, Giuseppe Bergomi, off for dissent. He then showed Colonnese the red card as more Inter players joined the fray, jostling the referee. Finally Braschi dismissed the Argentina midfielder Javier Zanetti before play resumed.

Parma lay siege to the Inter goal for a bizarre closing 15 minutes and Abel Balbo took advantage of the gaps in the Inter defence to score with an 86th-minute header.

In a Spanish Cup quarter-final first-leg game, a deluge of four goals in a 15 minute spell at the end of the first half helped Real Madrid sink Racing Santander 6-2.