Antonio Conte saw red as Inter were held to a goalless draw by Udinese and missed out on the chance to overtake Serie A leaders Milan at the midway point of the season

Inter beat Juventus 2-0 last weekend to enhance their title credentials but could not follow that up with another win in Saturday's stalemate at the Dacia Arena.

Relegation-threatened Udinese entered the game winless in eight but they restricted Inter to minimal chances, the best falling to Lautaro Martinez in the first half.

Conte's frustration boiled over late on, the Inter coach receiving his marching orders due to dissent, though the Nerazzurri at least gained a point on their bitter rivals Milan, who were beaten 3-0 by Atalanta ahead of the sides' Coppa Italia quarter-final on Tuesday.

Bayern Munich are the only side to have scored more goals in Europe's top-five leagues than Inter this season but the visitors could not get going against Udinese.

Martinez had a goal correctly ruled out for offside from Inter's first meaningful attack and was denied by a superb one-handed Juan Musso save 15 minutes later.

Udinese otherwise kept their opponents at bay in a low-tempo first half, with Arturo Vidal and Ashley Young failing to truly test Musso from weak attempts.

Inter continued to lack ideas as the match wore on and were almost dealt a sucker punch when first Roberto Pereyra and then Rodrigo de Paul fired just wide of the target.

Achraf Hakimi lashed across the face of goal and a bad day for Conte got worse when he was booked and then sent off for protesting a decision that went against his side as Inter fired a blank for the first time in 22 league games.

Inter head coach Antonio Conte is convinced there are seven teams fighting for the Serie A title and a top-four spot as he insisted the Nerazzurri are not Scudetto favourites.

Conte's Inter are second and three points adrift of city rivals Milan, but full of confidence after upstaging nine-time defending champions Juventus 2-0 last week.

Inter outclassed Juve at San Siro to enhance their title credentials in Italy, where they have not claimed the Scudetto since their treble-winning campaign in 2009-10.

But Conte dismissed the favourites tag, with Napoli, Roma, Juve, Atalanta and Lazio also vying for silverware and a Champions League berth.

"I always said since the beginning of the season that I see seven teams fighting for the first four positions, either for the Scudetto or for a place in the next Champions League," Conte said ahead of Saturday's fixture away to Udinese.

"I think the first half of the season confirmed my opinion. We have seen some teams being more consistent than others but in the end this first Serie A round confirmed that there are seven teams able to play for the title until the end of the season."

Inter have won nine of their last 11 Serie A games against Udinese (D1 L1) and have not conceded a goal in their last five against the club.

The Nerazzurri have scored 45 goals in their first 18 league fixtures this season – only Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich have scored more (48) in the top five European leagues in 2020-21.

In a 20-team season, only in 1951-52 have the Nerazzurri scored more in the first half of a season (48).

Meanwhile, among coaches who have led Inter for at least 30 Serie A games in the era of three points per win, Conte has the joint-best points-per-game average (2.18 per match, level with Jose Mourinho).

A mouth-watering Coppa Italia quarter-final derby against neighbours Milan looms on Tuesday, but Conte said: "Our focus and our choices are only based on Udinese in this moment. The championship is too important [to make changes towards the derby] because apart from the Scudetto you have a place in the next Champions League to fight for.

"The championship is our priority. We have to focus on Udinese and we have to approach this game with the right mentality. After this game we are going to think about the next one but today Udinese are our priority."

Gennaro Gattuso insisted Napoli cannot always be beautiful like Hollywood actor Brad Pitt as he urged his side to be a "bit ugly" like him.

Napoli claimed a last-gasp 2-1 victory at Udinese thanks to Tiemoue Bakayoko's 90th-minute winner in Serie A on Sunday.

Lorenzo Insigne had opened the scoring via a 15th-minute penalty to move level with Careca for seventh place on Napoli's all-time scorers list in Serie A (73) and also seventh position across all competitions (97).

Udinese's Kevin Lasagna equalised 12 minutes later before Bakayoko ensured Napoli bounced back from their shock defeat at home to Spezia.

Napoli are sixth in Serie A – nine points adrift of leaders Milan – and head coach Gattuso told his team to get down and dirty.

"I don't get angry with my players for their technique, it's when they don't smell fear. I think we are a team who repeatedly don't spot the danger when it's coming. I want to see a team that keeps going," Gattuso told Sky Sport Italia.

"I don't want us to miss a chance, then I see immediately the defenders start complaining to each other, oh we missed a goal, that means we're bound to concede one. No! We have to work as a team.

"We have to improve in when we're under pressure, because I know I don't have a side that can soak up pressure for ages, that's not our approach, but we can do better than we are now. You can't tell me that mentality cannot be improved or coached. I don't believe it.

"What happened with Spezia infuriated me, because the ball came off the post, we had five players ball-watching while Tommaso Pobega reacted quicker. That is a lack of determination, that is unacceptable.

"Napoli want to always be beautiful, but sometimes being a bit ugly is a good thing. You can't always be Brad Pitt, with blonde hair and blue eyes. Sometimes you have to be a bit ugly, like me. I look worse than usual now, as I'm all puffed up due to the cortisone shots, but I feel better."

Andrea Pirlo revealed Juventus were "feeling the fear" from their heavy defeat to Fiorentina before the mid-season break in the early stages of their 4-1 win over Udinese on Sunday. 

Juve suffered a humiliating 3-0 home loss to La Viola in December – their first in the league this season – but the champions bounced back to winning ways in style at the Allianz Stadium. 

Cristiano Ronaldo scored either side of Federico Chiesa's cool finish – the 15th consecutive season the Portugal star has scored 20 goals for club and country – before Udinese's Marvin Zeegelaar and Paulo Dybala exchanged goals in the closing stages. 

The result ensured Juve avoided going three consecutive home games without a win for the first time since 2015-16, and Pirlo conceded the defeat to Fiorentina last time out was on his players' minds early on.

"It wasn't the best Juventus, as we were coming off a bad defeat to Fiorentina, so started quite timid and nervous, especially when their forwards ran towards us. We gained more confidence as it went on," Pirlo told DAZN.

"I was not satisfied with the initial approach to the game, as we were still feeling the fear of our last defeat to Fiorentina. The timing of the movements weren't right, especially on the wings.

"We knew that Udinese would try to sit back, counter and wait for our mistakes, but we did well with the preventative marking to ensure they couldn't do that."

Dybala's late goal was just his second in Serie A this season and came after a game in which he lost possession 21 times – seven more than any other Juve player.

Despite his wastefulness with the ball, Pirlo was pleased with the Argentina international's contribution and believes his goal was the result of the forward's improved fitness. 

"We need Dybala, he needs us," the Juve boss added. "He worked very well during the week in training. We could tell during the match that he was in better physical condition and we kept him on to the end because we hoped he would score that goal."

The result could have been different had Rodrigo De Paul's 10th-minute strike not been ruled out following a VAR check for a handball earlier in the move. 

And Rodrigo Bentancur, who laid on Ronaldo's second, acknowledged Juve need to start games with more of a spring in their step, starting with their visit to leaders Milan on Wednesday. 

"We didn't start with the right mentality and conceded that goal, which fortunately was disallowed for handball," Bentancur said. 

"We did better after the break, deserved the victory, but again the mentality dropped at the end to concede that goal.

"I think we need to keep that concentration throughout the 90 minutes. We allowed Udinese too many chances and that should not happen.

"I don't mind if I score goals or not. I provided an assist tonight and that's as good as a goal, because I am helping the team.

"This was a victory we wanted and fought hard for. Now we have a couple of days to rest and prepare for Milan."

Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Juventus bounced back from their Fiorentina fiasco with a 4-1 win over Udinese at the Allianz Stadium on Sunday. 

Andrea Pirlo's side suffered a humiliating 3-0 home defeat to La Viola before the mid-season break, but they kicked off 2021 with a win that ensured the gap to Serie A leaders Milan remained at 10 points. 

Ronaldo put Juve ahead in the 31st minute with a fine strike after Udinese's Rodrigo de Paul had seen an effort ruled out by VAR. 

Federico Chiesa and Ronaldo then made sure Juve avoided going three consecutive home games without a win for the first time since 2015-16.

Marvin Zeegelaar snatched a consolation for Udinese, but Paulo Dybala had the final say in stoppage time.