Juventus 1-3 Inter: Milito and Palacio end champion's unbeaten run

The Nerazzurri responded wonderfully well to the shock of conceding a goal to Arturo Vidal after just 19 seconds to claim their ninth successive win in all competitions.

Inter underlined its Scudetto credentials by coming from behind to defeat reigning Serie A champion Juventus 3-1 in their top-of-the-table clash in Turin on Saturday night, thus ending its opponent's 49-game unbeaten run in the process.

The Nerazzurri had found themselves a goal down after just 19 seconds, with Arturo Vidal turning in Kwadwo Asamoah's shot/cross. However, Inter maintained its composure and more than played its part in absorbing first half before taking control of the proceedings after the interval.

The visitors deservedly drew level just before the hour mark courtesy of a penalty from Diego Milito and the Argentine struck again with just 15 minutes remaining after following up Fredy Guarin's drive. Juventus went in search of an equaliser but they were punished for pouring forward when Rodrigo Palaco stabbed the ball home to secure a victory which saw Inter reduce the Bianconeri's lead at the summit of Serie A to a solitary point.

The hosts could not have hoped for a better start to such an important fixture, stunning the in-form Nerazzurri with a goal inside the opening 20 seconds. Mirko Vucinic and Sebastian Giovinco exchanged passes in midfield before the former slipped the ball through for Asamoah. The Ghanaian was offside but the flagged stayed down and the former Udinese man benefitted from another huge stroke of luck when his awfully wayward attempt on goal was calmly turned in by the Vidal at the back post. 

Credit to Inter, it responded well to such a devastating early setback, with Esteban Cambiasso, ably supported by Palacio, leading the backlash. However, Andrea Stramaccioni’s side would have fallen further behind seven minutes in had Samir Handanovic not produced a wonderful reaction save to deny Claudio Marchisio, who had met Andrea Pirlo’s sublime through-ball on the volley.

As it was, Inter continued to press and thought it had claimed a deserved equalizer when Palacio nodded home a Cambiasso free kick from wide on the right. However, the striker was deemed fractionally offside, which felt harsh given the nature of the game’s opening goal.

Inter just wasn’t getting the breaks, which was underlined again when Antonio Cassano unleashed a terrific curling effort from the edge of the area only to see the ball drift just wide of the far post with Gianluigi Buffon beaten all ends up.

The Nerazzurri should also have been given a helping hand shortly before the break when Stephan Lichsteiner - already on a booking for jumping into Cambiasso - floored Palacio with a horribly reckless challenge. The Swiss escaped with a talking-to, though, and that enabled Juventus to ensure that it would reach the interval with the lead intact and 11 men still on the field by replacing Lichsteiner with Martin Caceres almost immediately.

The Bianconeri made another change during the break, sending Nicklas Bendtner on in place of Vucinic, but it was Inter who looked the more likely to score next, with Palacio blazing over after being slipped in on goal by Diego Milito before Yuto Nagatomo drew a decent save out of Buffon after cutting in from the left wing.

An equalizer felt inevitable if Inter’s luck would only turn, and it did on 59 minutes when the officials did wonderfully well to spot Marchisio’s slight tug on Milito in the area. The hosts were incensed but the Argentine didn’t care and he converted the resulting spot kick with aplomb to finally draw Inter level.

The momentum was now all with Inter and it silenced Juventus Stadium when Milito struck again in the 75th minute, firing past Buffon after the goalkeeper had failed to parry Guarin's well-struck drive to safety.

Led by Andrea Pirlo, the home side tried to rally but it was stung on the counterattack in the final minute of normal time when Palacio controlled Nagatomo's clever through-ball before prodding it past Buffon to put the seal on Inter's eighth successive win in all competitions./goal.com