Despite Francesco Totti's comeback, Roma were crushed 4-0 by a Zlatan Ibrahimovic brace and blockbusters from Dejan Stankovic and Victor Obinna. Their fourth defeat in seven games, the Giallorossi have already lost as many as they did throughout all of last season.

These two sides have dominated the post-Calciopoli landscape, but only six rounds in and the Giallorossi were already six points adrift. Luciano Spalletti was under pressure ahead of his 15th meeting with Inter since taking charge of Roma in 2005, which included five wins between the Coppa Italia and Serie A. He already crossed paths with Jose Mourinho in August's Italian Super Cup, a 2-2 draw decided on penalties in the Portuguese tactician's favour.

This represented the return to the Olimpico of Amantino Mancini and Cristian Chivu, while both sides missed top stars such as Patrick Vieira, Nicolas Burdisso, Luis Jimenez, Luis Figo, Maxwell, Julio Baptista, Marco Cassetti and suspended duo Philippe Mexes and Christian Panucci. There were surprises in the line-ups, as Victor Obinna and Francesco Totti started, the Italian's first appearance in a month.

Roma were unbeaten at the Olimpico in Serie A since their 4-1 thrashing by Inter on September 29, 2007, followed by 16 wins and three draws. John Arne Riise tested Julio Cesar with the first attempt after four minutes, shooting with the outside of his foot.

However, less than 10 seconds later Inter took the lead. Roma had a makeshift defence and it showed, as Zlatan Ibrahimovic sprung the offside trap just past the midway line from Ivan Cordoba's pass and waited until Alexander Doni rushed out to place a classic lob into the empty net from outside the box. Cicinho was the man keeping Ibra in play.

Juan almost scored a comical own goal, completely mis-kicking a clearance to skim the upright!

Douglas Maicon went on a searing counter only to fire over the bar, but at the other end Ivan Cordoba flung himself at Mirko Vucinic to charge down the shot from 10 yards.

Roma went on the counter too and Daniele De Rossi finished it off by thumping the side-netting, as it was end to end stuff at the Olimpico. Ricardo Quaresma attempted an audacious trivela from a promising position when he might've been better off thumping it, but went closer soon after with an angled drive fingertipped round the far post.

Maicon again tested Doni at the near post, while Chivu intercepted a smart Totti pass that had sent Simone Perrotta clear and some chaotic defending finally cleared a Roma corner.

Simone Loria charged down Obinna's effort, but had it not been for a deflection, Totti's backheel would have given Perrotta a clear shot on target. Perrotta put the ball in the back of the net from a Totti through ball on 34 minutes, but it was correctly ruled offside.

Vucinic's snapshot was too weak for Julio Cesar, but a wonderful team move created a fine chance for Rodrigo Taddei, who was a little too late to get the solid volley on to De Rossi's cross.

Moments later there was another splendid move. Totti volleyed Cicinho's over-long cross back into the centre for Vucinic's header deflected over the bar off a defender's body. From the resulting corner kick, Loria nodded high.

Roma were pushing, but straight after the restart Ibrahimovic again pounced on a defensive error. This time Loria missed the intervention on Muntari's through ball and the Swede ran past Juan for an angled drive beneath Doni.

A minute later the Giallorossi had their best chance of the game so far, but Julio Cesar got down brilliantly to parry Cicinho's point-blank effort and then the full-back nodded the rebound over the bar.

A deflected Riise effort dribbled wide for a corner and the same happened to Taddei, but from the second set piece Alberto Aquilani unleashed a rocket from 20 metres that Julio Cesar tipped out from under the woodwork.

Inter struck for a third time with Dejan Stankovic, the former Lazio midfielder smashing a fierce strike into the far top corner from a poorly cleared set piece. The Serb made perfect contact with the loose ball with the outside of his right foot to leave Doni with little chance.

Roma fell apart and Victor Obinna made it 4-0 mere moments later. He went on the counter and again released a fierce left-foot blockbuster from the D to rise over Doni.

The Giallorossi fans continued to chant and cheer on their team, who were visibly in psychological difficulty with this humiliating scoreline. Totti was the last to give in and his piledriver stung Julio Cesar's palms with Vucinic drilling wide from the corner.

Totti made way for Jeremy Menez, as he cannot play 90 minutes yet, while Amantino Mancini returned to the Olimpico to a chorus of jeers. It was so nearly 5-0, as Mancini's free kick found a Maicon header that thumped the near post.

Riise was denied the satisfaction of at least getting one back from a touched-on free kick, as Julio Cesar was at full stretch. From the corner, Menez drilled over from just inside the box. Muntari fired wide from Obinna's cutback in the final minute.