MILAN, (AFP) - Brazilian midfielder Kaka lifted AC Milan to a 1-0 win over city rivals Inter at the San Siro on Friday to close the gap on Serie A leaders Juventus. Kaka's 70th minute strike pushed Milan up to 74 points, just four adrift of Juventus who will hope to revive their faltering assault on a 29th Scudetto in Sardinia against Cagliari on Saturday. This was the perfect warm-up for Milan ahead of Tuesday's Champions league semi-final first leg date with Barcelona with coach Carlo Ancelotti saying his men had shown another side to their character.
"It was a victory born more out of strength than quality, which is rare for us.
"It was a difficult game, as Inter closed down all the spaces and hardly allowed us to play the ball to feet. That is our main strength and we should generally avoid long balls forward," he said.
For Inter, who are now four points shy of their arch enemies, it spelled the latest reverse in what has been a difficult month which has seen them dumped out of Europe by Villareal and then attacked by an angry mob of their own fans last weekend.
And Inter supporters carried on their protest with many boycotting the game.
Inter coach Roberto Mancini reflected: "A team always needs its fans close by, but this is a strange time and all we can do is stay calm and try to carry on working hard.
"We prepared for this game like any other, even if the last 10 days have been very hard for us. It was better to focus on football rather than all that surrounds it."
He blamed the defeat on sloppy defending.
"We made a silly mistake for the goal, as the defence left itself open on that high ball coming in after a set-piece. Unfortunately, Marco Materazzi slipped and that created the chance."
The match was brought forward to Friday to allow Milan an extra 24 hours to prepare for Barcelona's visit and with half an eye on the coming of the Catalans Ancelotti elected not to start Pippo Inzaghi.
Inter though started with the out-of-sorts Adriano in their midst after the Brazil striker came through a late fitness test after his recent injury problems.
This derby was valued at 12 million euros, the estimated price put on finishing second in Serie A.
And Milan are firmly in the driving seat to take the prized runner-up spot and even with renewed aspirations to take the title after Kaka followed up last week's hat-trick against Chievo with the decisive strike 20 minutes from the end.
Holland international Clarence Seedorf lobbed a high ball into the box from the left with the unmarked Kaka, granted all the time in the world to control the ball off his chest, unleashing an unstoppable drive past Julio Cesar in the Inter goal.
One of Inter's best chances came on the hour mark when Dejan Stankovic crossed to Luis Figo but the former Real Madrid galactico's header went wide of the far post.
And late pressure from the visitors came close to paying dividends with a little help from the fumbling Dida.
The Milan keeper totally mistimed his exit on Adriano allowing in Esteban Cambiasso but the Argentine's header somehow missed finding the back of the net.
But Ancelotti defended his keeper saying: "We made a few mistakes, but this can happen against a talented side like Inter. It went well despite our errors. Didas situation and so-called distractions are becoming a bit of a clich�.
"Hes not perfect, but he at least tries to command the area and come out for the ball. In the past he was criticised for sitting back."
Looking ahead to the Barcelona game he added: "We can now focus on the Champions League, but were not giving up in Serie A, as this was a crucial result in our bid for second place."
