| Julio Cesar was the hero as he saved a late penalty, but it's more controversy as Inter's winning spot-kick was extremely dubious and Patrick Vieira saw red. Having been surprisingly held to a draw at Udinese last week, Inter were eager to maintain their five-point lead. This was on paper the perfect game to achieve that, as Empoli hadn't won since the start of December and were just three points off the foot of the table. Cesar Aparecido was suspended, but Patrick Vieira returned to the starting XI. This fixture had never ended in a draw with seven home wins and one Empoli triumph in 2004. In that time the Nerazzurri had scored 23 goals and conceded six. Curiously, Empoli had just one away win this season - at San Siro against Milan. As has often happened in 2008, Inter had a very shaky and sluggish start to the match, allowing Empoli the initiative with Ighli Vannucchi testing Julio Cesar. The first Nerazzurri attempt on goal came after 13 minutes when Alessandro Budel lost the ball in midfield and at the end of a passing move Luis Jimenez flashed his angled drive past the far post. Oddly, Inter were playing on the counter and burst forward after Budel wasted a good chance to make their own mistake at the other end with Jimenez practically taking the ball off Dejan Stankovic as he was lining up the shot. Antonio Busce' was halted when clear on goal for a debatable offside decision, then a Stankovic thunderbolt was fingertipped round the post. Julio Cruz lost his footing and fired over from nine yards, but Empoli had another good chance with Nicola Pozzi's angled drive skimming the far post after he had gone past Nicolas Burdisso. If Inter thought the controversy of their win over Parma was over, they were very wrong. On 34 minutes the referee pointed to the spot for a Vannucchi handling offence to block Stankovic's effort, but replays show it hit his face and not his hand. Zlatan Ibrahimovic smashed a powerful penalty into the bottom corner. The referee was involved again, as the Nerazzurri were reduced to 10 men. Vieira marked his comeback from the start with a foolish dismissal, as he was booked and then swore right in the official's face, obviously earning a second yellow. It was the third time in their last four official games that Inter had seen a player sent off in the opening 45 minutes. Tempers flared and, while the match continued in the Empoli half, a large group of players from both teams were arguing in the penalty area, as Marco Materazzi accused Marianini of diving. To make matters worse, straight after the break Stankovic pulled up with an upper thigh strain, replaced by Nelson Rivas, pushing Javier Zanetti up to right midfield. Empoli were dominating now and Vannucchi rolled a free kick back to the D where Busce' unleashed a thunderbolt that Julio Cesar fingertipped out from under the crossbar. Luca Saudati came on and volleyed Busce's cross inches wide with the goalkeeper rooted to the spot and Julio Cesar flew to fingertip a Pozzi header out from under the bar. Empoli kept on coming and Saudati should have done a lot better on Busce's cross from the right. 10-man Inter had the chances to put the win beyond doubt, but David Suazo twice was off target. Daniele Bassi palmed a Maxwell attempt out for a corner, but the referee awarded another penalty, this time to Empoli for Materazzi's foul on Saudati. The striker got back up to take the kick, but saw it saved by Julio Cesar to keep 10-man Inter in front! | 
