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Luis Jimenez has maintained Inter's six-point lead at the top of the table, but it was only a slender 2-1 victory over troubled Palermo.
It has been a disastrous week for the Nerazzurri. Their Champions League exit to Liverpool was followed by Roberto Mancini announcing his resignation and then changing his mind less than 24 hours later, talk of in-fighting and a win here was needed to avoid Roma closing the gap to three points.
Olivier Dacourt, Walter Samuel, Ivan Cordoba, Cesar Aparecido, Maxwell and Dejan Stankovic were out injured, while Palermo welcomed Federico Balzaretti back from a ban and lost Andrea Barzagli to a late fitness problem.
It took five minutes to open the scoring, as Patrick Vieira exchanged passes with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the former Arsenal midfielder waltzed through the centre of the defence for a powerful header. He held his hand up to his ear in reference to when he was jeered off the field midweek against Liverpool.
Julio Cesar did well to capture Leandro Rinaudo's glancing header from a Fabrizio Miccoli free kick with Palermo players ready to pounce on a rebound. Julio Cruz's glancing header was wide of the far post and Vieira got a free header off target.
Palermo equalised in chaotic circumstances. Julio Cesar managed two point-blank reaction saves on Miccoli and Fabio Simplicio, but the ball ricocheted into the net off teammate Marco Materazzi!
Inter thought they had restored their lead less than 120 seconds later when Vieira's shot cannoned off the underside of the bar for a Luis Jimenez header, but the Chilean was clearly offside.
Jimenez got his chance on 35 minutes, as he controlled Douglas Maicon's pass with his heel to leave Giuseppe Biava stranded and placed a low angled drive into the bottom far corner.
Palermo felt they deserved a free kick outside the area for Nicolas Burdisso's handling offence on Miccoli, which Julio Cesar managed to smother.
Francesco Guidolin made two changes at the break, introducing Giovanni Tedesco and Bosko Jankovic. Julio Cesar pushed a Jankovic free kick off the head of Simplicio, as Palermo were controlling the tempo from a sluggish Inter in this second half.
Luis Figo replaced Jimenez just days after the Portuguese veteran refused to come off the bench against Liverpool. Figo was totally unmarked on the counter, but flashed his shot across the face of goal.
Ibrahimovic ran on to a Cruz through ball and his effort was parried by Alberto Fontana back into the Swede's path. He tried a 'rabona' to continue the move, but Rinaudo was there to clear up. Cruz's header flashed wide, but Palermo could have equalised when Jankovic's diving header was just wide.
There were worrying scenes at San Siro when Edison Cavani accidentally elbowed Materazzi mid-air and the defender appeared to lose consciousness. He recovered quickly and was able to continue, but was booked for a sliding tackle on Cristian Zaccardo and will be suspended for the game against Genoa.
It wasn't Materazzi's day, as he clashed heads with Giulio Migliaccio in stoppages.
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