A glorious Zlatan Ibrahimovic backheel flick and Adriano's penalty allowed Inter to defeat Bologna 2-1. His aerial back-heel flick is similar to the one he scored for Sweden against Italy in the European Championships.

The shine was coming off Jose Mourinho's squad after the derby defeat and midweek 1-1 draw with Werder Bremen. They hoped to pick up the pace again against a Bologna side that had lost four on the trot, but the only victory was at San Siro over Milan in Week 1.

Marco Materazzi and Walter Samuel were injured with Nicolas Burdisso suspended, so Ivan Cordoba and Nelson Rivas were the central defenders. Ricardo Quaresma and Amantino Mancini were very attacking wingers in a 4-4-2 formation.

It was Bologna who had a bright start, as in the opening three minutes Sergio Volpi had two dangerous snapshots from distance. Patrick Vieira horribly scuffed a half-volley and Zlatan Ibrahimovic fired the loose ball straight at Francesco Antonioli.

Christian Amoroso went on a strong run down the left flank and cut in for Francesco Valiani, whose effort was charged down for a corner from six yards. Moments later at the other end Ibra sprung the offside trap halfway up the field and Antonioli clamped his knees together to parry the shot.

It was a very open start to the match and Adriano volleyed a Douglas Maicon cross on to the side-netting, while Julio Cesar's palms were stung by a Gaby Mudingayi cracker.

Terzi got an accidental elbow in the face from Adriano and required treatment for a nosebleed. Maicon's taut cross shaved what little hair there is on Adriano's head, but Bologna threatened again with a sweeping move that eventually caught Moras offside.

The deadlock was broken on 25 minutes by Ibrahimovic in spectacular fashion. Adriano's cross down the left channel was flicked in by Ibrahimovic's heel from five yards! It was certainly the best goal of the season so far and likely one of the best of Ibra's career, very similar to the one he scored against Italy for Sweden in Euro 2004 and also one that Roberto Mancini netted for Lazio against Parma. He had his back to goal and still managed to aim it in at the near post. He knew it too, holding up his arms to invite the applause of the entire crowd.

Adriano had penalty appeals waved away and Ibra threaded through for Patrick Vieira to fire straight at the goalkeeper from point-blank range. Cordoba was booked for hacking down Davide Marchini as he was running on goal, but when Adriano held up a Quaresma cross for Ibrahimovic, the Swede ballooned over.

Julio Cesar flew to pluck Volpi's curler out of the air, but a disastrous Terzi error on the stroke of half-time nearly gifted Inter a second. He rolled a free kick straight to Vieira and was fortunate that Adriano's finish was deflected.

There was controversy straight after the restart, as the referee pointed to the spot for a handling offence. However, Maicon's cross hit Volpi's foot first and ricocheted on to his arm, so according to the new rules it cannot have been an intentional foul. Nonetheless, Adriano coolly rolled Antonioli the wrong way to convert.

Volpi's deflected piledriver was smothered by Julio Cesar and Bologna pulled one back thanks to a comical defensive error! Javier Zanetti incredibly chested a cross straight at the feet of a startled but grateful Moras, who only had to side-foot in from six yards. It was a bizarre moment, as Zanetti and Cordoba simply stood there watching. This means Inter have kept only one clean sheet in Serie A this season.

Inter ran another major risk two minutes later, but this time Zanetti's pass to Mudingayi was prevented from going in by the captain diving into his way to block the shot.

Quaresma wasted a promising counter-attack by hesitating with three different options and Valiani unleashed a rocket from 25 metres that whistled wide. Adriano threaded through for a totally unmarked Ibra, but he too hesitated and allowed Antonioli to rush out.

Bologna boss Daniele Arrigoni felt he could get something out of this game and threw on Cristian Zenoni and Massimo Marazzina.

Maicon was unlucky when his cross clipped the outside of the upright. The Nerazzurri have an injury crisis in central defence and it got worse when Rivas sprained his right knee in a clash with Marco Di Vaio and was stretchered off. Esteban Cambiasso was introduced as a makeshift centre-back.

Antonioli was at full stretch to parry a Sulley Ali Muntari snapshot, but Adriano had a penalty turned down for Terzi's body-check in the box. Ibrahimovic's first touch let him down on a too-powerful Adriano assist.

Bologna pushed forward in the final stages with substitute Coelho causing problems and a Cordoba tackle stopping Marazzina's run in the area. Antonioli parried a Dejan Stankovic strike and Victor Obinna made his Inter debut. The young Nigerian almost scored with his first touch, but Adriano's cross was a little too long for him and he volleyed it wide.

Ibrahimovic seems capable of scoring the most extraordinary goals and missing the easiest finishes. He took advantage of two Bologna players colliding to chip the goalkeeper, but turned the ball wide of an empty net!