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Marco Materazzi's penalty was saved, as Siena's 2-2 draw at San Siro and Roma's victory over Atalanta cut the gap to one point with one round left!
The Scudetto party was postponed after last week's derby defeat, but with a three-point lead their destiny was still in their hands, as a victory would be enough to secure the title. Siena ensured their safety last week and have already beaten Juventus and Roma this season, so they were not averse to a bit of giant-killing.
Curiously, last term a 2-1 win away to Siena mathematically handed Inter the Scudetto. The Tuscans had scored only once in their four previous visits to San Siro.
Inter got off to a blistering start with Julio Cruz and Patrick Vieira efforts going close in the opening 90 seconds, though Siena tested Julio Cesar too with ex-Roma midfielder Houssine Kharja. Marco Materazzi scored a brace to give Inter the title against Siena last year and was almost on target again, as he thumped the crossbar after 10 minutes with a trademark header from a corner kick. The resulting corner opened the scoring, though, as Vieira got his head to it with rather more accuracy at the near post. However, while Inter were trying to get the game under lock and key early on, Siena bagged a splendid equaliser. A deflected Kharja through ball found Massimo Maccarone and the Milan youth product slid is finish between Julio Cesar and the near post from the tightest of angles. Curiously, at the time Robur were playing with 10 men because Tomas Locatelli was off for treatment after a crunching Materazzi tackle. Siena almost took the lead before half-time, as Rossi was clear on goal and brought a desperate save out of Julio Cesar at the near post. San Siro was suddenly extremely tense, but exploded again in first half stoppages with 17-year-old Mario Balotelli's goal. Vieira headed on a Douglas Maicon throw-in for the unmarked Balotelli to nod in from six yards. Balotelli set up a great chance for Julio Cruz to seal it, but the Argentine fired wide. Siena also showed they weren't out of it yet by going close with Maccarone. Incredibly, Siena made it 2-2 with 20 minutes to go! Just as he had last week against Juventus, Kharja stroked a precise finish into the bottom far corner with the inside of his right foot, which even Julio Cesar at full stretch could not reach. The drama was not over, as the referee awarded a controversial penalty for a Christian Rigano' shirt-tug on Materazzi. However, Materazzi stepped up and his low finish was well parried by Alex Manninger at the bottom corner!
Jimenez and Cruz wasted more chances in the final stages and Esteban Cambiasso went off with an ankle injury, but it remained 2-2 and this title race will go down to the wire.
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