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Esteban Cambiasso and Mario Balotelli's second goal in as many games brought down Fiorentina to maintain Inter's four-point lead.
The incredibly tight Scudetto and Champions League races crossed paths at San Siro. The Nerazzurri needed a victory to keep Roma behind them, while the Viola had the chance to consolidate fourth place after reaching the UEFA Cup semi-final with a 2-0 victory at PSV Eindhoven this week. Adrian Mutu bagged a brace in that game, but Marco Donadel was suspended and Franco Semioli injured. Inter missed Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Olivier Dacourt, Walter Samuel and Ivan Cordoba. Sebastien Frey passed a late fitness test.
Fiorentina had lost their last five Serie A visits here on the trot, though the fixture hadn't ended in a draw since a 2-2 result in November 1996.
Riccardo Montolivo wasted a promising counter-attack, but Patrick Vieira's right-foot strike was deflected over the bar off Tomas Ujfalusi. From the resulting corner Frey flew to punch Vieira's bullet header out from under the crossbar.
Adrian Mutu smashed a fierce volley over the bar and Javier Zanetti had to close down a splendid Mario Alberto Santana run. The move continued and Marco Materazzi used his back to charge down Kuzmanovic's effort.
Fiorentina still had the ball and pinned Inter back, but Julio Cesar twice parried Mutu at point-blank range after a combination with Giampaolo Pazzini.
Alessandro Gamberini's challenge intercepted a quick one-two between Vieira and Mario Balotelli, while Frey bravely rushed out to clear the ball and got an accidental kick in the ribs from Balotelli for his trouble.
Frey was at full stretch to palm a Zanetti missile round the post from over 20 metres, as he got to it with one hand. From the resulting corner the French goalkeeper was again remarkable to parry a Julio Cruz header from point-blank range.
Frey went down injured during that move, as he had already been in doubt with a knee and problem and added a thigh twinge to that. He needed more heavy strapping to carry on, but was limping badly.
Mutu's sudden snapshot from 30 metres whistled wide, but Frey again acrobatically fingertipped a Cruz header out from under the bar to keep the scoreline level.
After the restart Zanetti turned off target with his weaker left foot, but Vieira was booked for a late tackle on Martin Jorgensen and will be suspended against Torino.
Julio Cesar rushed out to pluck a long ball off the head of Pazzini, but Frey punched Maicon's cross off Cruz's foot and Esteban Cambiasso blasted the follow-up off target.
The move continued with Vieira dribbling into the area and fighting off a challenge to roll back from the byeline for Cambiasso to fire into the roof of the net and give Inter the lead.
Christian Vieri replaced Pazzini and was greeted with a chorus of jeers by the Inter fans. He set up a great chance for an equaliser by cutting back for the unmarked Kuzmanovic, but the midfielder was leaning back and ballooned over from seven yards.
However, moments later the Nerazzurri doubled their lead with Balotelli's second goal in as many games. The 17-year-old sprung the offside trap from Cruz's through ball as Gobbi kept everyone on and kept his cool to pass it into the net with the inside of his right foot.
Julio Cesar smothered a Jorgensen cross-shot and Santana flicked on a corner with his heel for Nicolas Burdisso to clear the danger at the back post.
The Inter goalkeeper got down well to palm a Mutu free kick round the near post in stoppages and then performed a remarkable point-blank save on Vieri's header from the corner.
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