| Two headers from Julio Cruz and Marco Materazzi mean Inter could mathematically seal the Scudetto in next week's derby. There was a party atmosphere at San Siro, as a win here and Roma losing to Torino would mathematically crown Inter Campioni d'Italia. However, it was going to be tough against Cagliari, one of the form sides in Serie A right now.
The Sardinians were missing the banned Pasquale Foggia, Francesco Pisano and Michele Fini, plus injured Andrea Parola and Daniele Conti, but still fielded an all-attack formation. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Luis Figo, Ivan Cordoba, Walter Samuel and Olivier Dacourt sat out long-term physical problems. Robert Acquafresca is still co-owned by Inter and David Suazo spent eight years at the Sant'Elia. Cagliari had lost every visit here since a 2-2 draw in November 1996 and in the first minute 17-year-old Mario Balotelli drilled over from distance. However, Cagliari had a fantastic chance two minutes in when Alessandro Matri went on a blazing run through the centre of the Inter defence only to drill inches wide of the near post. Matri had another great chance moments later as he skipped past Nicolas Burdisso and two more defenders only to go for goal and see his shot charged down instead of passing to Acquafresca. Balotelli had a goal correctly disallowed for offside, but Julio Ricardo Cruz opened the scoring with his header took a deflection off Paolo Bianco and looped into the far top corner from Patrick Vieira's cross. Matri missed another golden opportunity by firing wide from eight yards from Ferri's assist. Capecchi rushed out to close down Esteban Cambiasso, then moments later his one-handed save turned Cruz's cross into Cambiasso's path, but the midfielder blasted wide from six yards! Coach Davide Ballardini surprisingly substituted Acquafresca for Joaquin Larrivey at the break, the Argentine failing to make an impact so far this season. Cagliari were more determined after the restart with Cambiasso needing a goalline clearance from Jeda's header on a corner kick to keep the Serie A leaders in front. Balotelli held up the ball for Dejan Stankovic to waste horribly, but it really was not Matri's day. He tried to get a foot to a wayward shot from the edge of the box, just missing the ball that could've caused Julio Cesar some serious problems. Cruz had a good chance, but Capecchi performed a stunning point-blank reaction save on Balotelli. The veteran goalkeeper was on the ground, but stuck up a hand to parry. The game was still in the balance until eight minutes from time, when Marco Materazzi got away from Larrivey to nod in a sweeping free kick. Cagliari eventually got a goal in stoppages when Davide Biondini's angled drive from the edge of the area took a decisive deflection to send Julio Cesar the wrong way. | 
