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Alvaro Recoba made his return to San Siro, but the Uruguayan barely got a look-in as Inter steamrollered Torino.
Toro were coming off four consecutive draws and faced the Serie A leaders on cruise control, although there were problems for Roberto Mancini, as Olivier Dacourt, Patrick Vieira, Luis Figo, Dejan Stankovic, Adriano and Francesco Toldo were sidelined along with the suspended Walter Samuel. Marco Materazzi made his first start since picking up a serious thigh injury in August.
All eyes were on Alvaro Recoba, who spent a decade in the Nerazzurri shirt before moving away on loan after a row with Mancio, but he surprisingly started from the bench. Inter last lost a Serie A game to Torino in 1994 and at San Siro that result hadn't appeared since a 1-0 on Valentine's Day 1988.
Julio Cruz held up the ball for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, forcing Matteo Sereni to save with an outstretched foot, but at the other end Julio Cesar had to work hard to deny Alessandro Rosina's splendid snapshot from 30 metres and Nicola Ventola drilled wide.
Sereni did well to deny Cesar Aparecido's fierce volley, again using his legs for an instinctive save. David Di Michele fired just over the target and ex-Inter man Ventola should have given Torino a surprise lead, but lost his footing when one-on-one with Julio Cesar and the chance went begging.
Inter had a penalty appeal for Cesare Natali's nudge on Cruz, but the referee waved play on. Gianluca Comotto's cross-shot whistled just wide of the far corner.
The referee did eventually point to the spot for a clumsy Comotto tackle on Ibrahimovic. Ibra stepped up himself to roll the penalty just under Sereni's arm, as the goalkeeper had picked the right corner.
Luis Jimenez came on for a rhombus midfield and after five minutes they had doubled their lead. Cristian Chivu's cross from the left missed Ibra's head, but was perfect for Cruz's glancing finish.
Jimenez proved to be an inspired substitution, as he netted his third goal in as many games. The Chilean exchanged passes with Cruz outside the box and unleashed a rocket of a right-foot strike that flashed across Sereni into the far top corner.
Recoba finally came on and woke Toro up. Julio Cesar tipped a Di Michele lob out from under the bar and from the resulting corner Comotto's header thumped the crossbar.
Ibrahimovic was booked and will be suspended for next week's trip to Cagliari, but the defenders even got in on the act with a fourth goal. Nicolas Andre Burdisso held up a corner at the back post for the totally unmarked Ivan Cordoba's header.
However, there was some bad news as the already injury-ravaged Inter had to replace Jimenez with a muscular problem just half an hour after coming on to the field.
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