Genoa vs. Internazionale

The Nerazzurri suffered their only defeat of the season in this stadium against Sampdoria in Week 6 and arrived with an injury crisis, ruling out Diego Milito, Thiago Motta, Samuel Eto'o and Marco Materazzi. David Suazo was expected to start, but instead Mario Balotelli had a centre-forward role. Genoa missed Marco Rossi, Bosko Jankovic, Domenico Criscito, Ivan Juric, Houssine Kharja and the suspended Giandomenico Mesto, but Hernan Crespo was benched.

Inter's last defeat here was in 1994-95 and there were penalty appeals three minutes in for Dejan Stankovic's shirt-tug on Sergio Floccari. Replays suggest it was a decent shout.

However, the visitors took the lead with a stroke of luck. Balotelli earned a controversial free kick, which he then knocked down for Esteban Cambiasso's turn on the volley, but it took a decisive deflection on the way through to leave Marco Amelia stranded.

Balotelli's disciplinary record remains a problem and he was booked 11 minutes in for a very late barge on Emiliano Moretti. Dejan Stankovic had a chance on the counter when he sprung the offside trap to flash a daisy-cutter across the face of goal. Soon after the Serb also nodded wide from Douglas Maicon's cross.

The tension at Marassi was sky-high and in quick succession Modesto and Walter Samuel went into the book.

Balotelli proved why he is one of the brightest young talents in Italian football, even with his questionable temperament, by scoring Inter's second goal. Javier Zanetti dispossessed Alberto Zapater in midfield to spark the counter, which Balotelli finalised with a powerful and slightly raised angled drive in off the far post.

Balotelli needed treatment for a cut to the eyebrow after an accidental collision with Salvatore Bocchetti.

Genoa thought they had pulled one back on 40 minutes, but Omar Milanetto was flagged offside in an incredibly tight decision when he volleyed in with the outside of his foot from six yards.

There was a moment of fair play in the tense game just before half-time when Genoa put the ball out during a very dangerous counter-attack because Stankovic was down with a head injury in the other half. Sculli and Balotelli had a row and the two were dragged apart by teammates to prevent further trouble.

Inter made it 3-0 in truly bizarre circumstances in the final minute of stoppages. Amelia's dismal goal kick was volleyed by Stankovic from the centre-circle into an empty net! The Serb showed great awareness and kept his cool to steer the lob towards the target, stunning Marassi.

The tension exploded as the half-time whistle blew with Maicon's celebrations infuriating the Genoa bench. Substitute goalkeeper Alessio Scarpi was shown the red card for his part in the incident.

Cambiasso was carrying an injury and made way for Patrick Vieira, but the tension remained and Sulley Muntari was booked 25 seconds after the restart. Soon after he ran the risk of a second yellow card after going in strong on Sokratis Papastathopoulos.

Amelia beat away a towering Balotelli header as a free kick was whipped into the box. At the other end a deflected Giuseppe Biava cross caused problems for Julio Cesar.

Substitute Vieira made it 4-0 for Inter on the hour mark with a rare goal in the Nerazzurri jersey. Sneijder's slide-rule pass found him in the D and the Frenchman turned Modesto to flash an angled drive across Amelia into the far corner.

Genoa fell to pieces and were torn apart on the counter. Maicon had a bit of luck when the ball ricocheted between Rossoblu defenders to send the Brazilian clear and he coolly side-footed in at the near post.

Nonetheless, the Marassi crowd continued to wave their flags and chant in support of their team that was trailing 5-0. Palladino's slalom ended with an angled drive into Julio Cesar's arms and Lucio did well to rush back and close down another potential chance.