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The woodwork twice saved Inter in a 1-1 draw away to Lazio, as Hernan Crespo and Tommaso Rocchi keep the gap at four points.
It was turning into a familiar nightmare for the Nerazzurri, who famously lost the Scudetto on the last day of the season with a 4-2 defeat here on May 5, 2002. Their nine-point lead over Roma was reduced to four going into this weekend and confidence was low after a home loss to Juventus.
Olivier Dacourt, Walter Samuel and Ivan Cordoba were long-term injuries, while Pele returned from a ban and Julio Cruz was suspended. Marco Materazzi was dropped after a poor performance against Juve, while former Lazio stars Hernan Crespo and Dejan Stankovic started. Massimo Mutarelli was sent to the stands following his red card against Fiorentina last week. Curiously, these two teams will meet again in the Coppa Italia.
Lazio got off to a strong start with Cristian Ledesma blasting over and Valon Behrami just failed to get on the end of a Lorenzo De Silvestri cross to the back post.
However, Inter took the lead with their first opportunity after 11 minutes. Douglas Maicon got away down the right and crossed for Crespo's tap-in from six yards. It was Crespo's first Inter start in almost two months.
Emilson Cribari's header was smothered, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic was caught in possession as Ousmane Dabo forced another tough save out of Julio Cesar in the space of 30 seconds.
Nuno Maniche cut in from the left with a central shot comfortably held by Marco Ballotta, then Julio Cesar plucked a De Silvestri effort out of the air. Nicolas Burdisso's header from a Cristian Chivu free kick found Ballotta ready at the back post.
Ibra sprung the offside trap and charged forward on the counter, forcing Ballotta to take two touches to save it with Crespo hovering over the loose ball. At the other end Tommaso Rocchi's first touch let him down clear on goal.
Inter were now playing on the counter and Crespo avoided the offside flag for a shot too weak to really trouble Ballotta. However, Lazio were dominating play and a cracking Dabo screamer was palmed one-handed out from under the crossbar by the brilliant Julio Cesar.
Cribari needed a fine tackle to cut short Maniche's counter inside the box and a Ledesma snapshot was deflected off target by Burdisso. Chivu's sliding tackle on Behrami in the box cut short an important chance, then former Inter reject Goran Pandev dribbled past three players before Burdisso deflected his shot towards safety.
After the restart Ibrahimovic rolled back for Maniche to fire into Ballotta's arms, while another Dabo effort was charged down as Lazio notched up 10 corners without a single reply.
Inter were pinned back and only went forward on the counter, but Ibrahimovic wasted a golden opportunity when he hesitated, not shooting or passing to Crespo, allowing the defence to close him down.
Maicon intercepted a crucial Pandev pass that would have sent Rocchi clear on goal.
Lazio finally got a deserved equaliser just before the hour mark. Rocchi was left totally unmarked and onside by a matter of inches to gather a long Ledesma ball, kept his cool and slid an angled drive past Julio Cesar. The two central defenders were static and slow on this occasion, though the decision was extremely close.
Inter got their first corner a few minutes later and Ibrahimovic nodded off target, but Lazio continued to dominate.
On 64 minutes Julio Cesar performed an absolutely stunning save. Behrami's strike from the D took a deflection to loop into the air and the goalkeeper was at full stretch to fingertip the 'accidental' lob on to the crossbar!
Radu drilled over from 20 metres as it was turning into a siege. Luis Jimenez replaced Maniche and was welcomed by a chorus of insults, as he had walked out on Lazio in the summer by going away on international duty and refusing to return.
Ibrahimovic limped off for David Suazo and Chivu curled a free kick past the near post. The former Roma man also went off injured for Patrick Vieira. Rivas wanted a penalty for a De Silvestri embrace, but the referee waved play on.
A splendid Behrami-Rocchi-Pandev combination was intercepted with the Swiss international running into the box. There was controversy on 80 minutes as Maicon brought down Behrami right on the edge of the area, but the referee waved play on.
Inter were rescued by the bar for the second time as a free kick was rolled across to Dabo for a screamer that clattered the underside of the bar and bounced back off the ground with Julio Cesar rooted to the spot.
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