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Marco Materazzi's brace gave Inter a hard-fought victory at the Stadio Franchi, as the Nerazzurri are mathematically crowned Campione d'Italia!
The champagne had been on ice on Wednesday, but the shock 3-1 defeat to Roma - their first of the season - postponed those Scudetto celebrations. A party was still possible today if they earned a victory and Roma lost away to Atalanta. Yet Inter had not won here since their first League visit in 2003, followed by two straight draws, and the 2-0 result at San Siro in Week 14 only came after Julio Cesar saved Mario Frick's penalty.
Siena were a weakened side with Tomas Locatelli, Abdoulay Konko, Massimo Maccarone and the suspended trio of Daniele Portanova, Valerio Bertotto and Cristian Molinaro out of action. Inter also had problems with Hernan Crespo, Walter Samuel and Patrick Vieira injured. Luis Figo and Adriano sat out bans, the Brazilian handed a two-match stop for diving to earn a penalty against Roma.
Javier Zanetti drilled wide from the edge of the area and on 17 minutes Alex Manninger parried an Ivan Cordoba header from a corner kick. The second corner proved the charm, as a chaotic move saw Marco Materazzi eventually bundle it over the line from a yard. Douglas Maicon had the first attempt cleared off the line.
However, it lasted only three minutes. Galloppa's cross was nodded back across the face of goal by Leandro Rinaudo and found a Paolo Negro header from six yards to draw Siena level.
Manninger flew to push away Zlatan Ibrahimovic's header from a Santiago Solari cross, as Inter notched up a series of corner kicks.
After the restart Siena nearly took the lead. A low free kick took a deflection off Negro's heel and Julio Cesar had to turn it out of the near bottom corner with the sole of his boot. From the resulting corner Cordoba accidentally clattered into his own goalkeeper, leaving the Brazilian with a bloody nose.
Nicolas Burdisso went off injured for Maxwell and there was controversy on 58 minutes. Julio Cruz pounced on a weak Rossi backpass and Manninger rushed out to clatter into him. Materazzi stepped up to convert - twice, as it had to be retaken for encroachment - for his third goal in two games this week. With this scoreline and Roma losing in Bergamo, Inter were Campioni d'Italia.
Siena threw on a third striker, Mario Frick, and had a fine opportunity to make it 2-2. Chiesa's free kick took a couple of deflections and Rinaudo was punished for holding the ball between his legs as he tried to turn practically on the line surrounded by Julio Cesar and Cordoba.
Soon after Chiesa missed the cross from the right, but it fell to Galloppa and his shot from six yards was charged down by Maicon.
Inter could have finished the game off, but Cruz hesitated when clear on the counter and foolishly let the chance vanish.
Siena substitute Luca Antonini drilld wide from distance and, as Inter had already completed their substitutions, they had to play the final eight minutes in 10 men when Maicon suffered a muscular problem.
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