Inter Milan stepped on to the field at the San Siro today with a clear mission: take all three points from Lecce, and in doing so close the gap on AC Milan to just two points. Mission accomplished with the 52nd minute goal from Giampaolo Pazzini, and although the visitors threatened, Inter seemed content to coast through with just one goal. With Milan losing 1-0 to Palermo yesterday, a win for Inter in the derby on April 3rd could see them overtake their rivals in the scudetto race.
Lecce managed to keep an attacking Inter side at bay through to the halftime whistle. although much of that was to do with Inter's sluggishness and inability to place many of their passes on target. The best chances for Inter came in the first five minutes, when Wesley Sneijder disturbed Antonio Rosati's goaltime slumbering twice. After that, Rosati was left to rest in relative peace. Lecce wasted a chance in the 45th minute to put themselves ahead, with Nenad Tomović failing to get on the end of a Rubén Olivera cross, and then sending his own cross over the byline.
After the restart, Inter looked revitalized, speeding up their attack and disturbing the Lecce defense. Pazzini went close in the 51st minute before finding the net in the 52nd. The forward used his chest to control the pass from Wesley Sneijder -- Lecce clamored for a handball, but nothing doing -- before sending his shot into the far corner of the net. After the goal, Inter seemed to calm down a bit, not really anxious to score, but not really worried about Lecce doing so, either.
The visitors did have one more attack left in them, however, waiting until the 85th minute to truly threaten the goal of Júlio César. Andrea Bertolacci sent in a shot from close range, but the Inter keeper, desperate to atone for his recent mistakes, performed a brilliant save to give Inter all three points.