The Old Lady was helped immensely by their grey beards. Gigi Buffon brought off spectacular save after another, Andrea Pirlo created most of the movement from deep within midfield, and Alessandro Del Piero scored Juve’s second goal to help keep the Derby D’Italia in their hands.
It was an enthralling match and Inter managed to give Juve some very anxious moments in the first half through Diego Milito and Diego Forlan. The second half showed up their creative paucity with no Wesley Sneijder in the side and resorting to futile bombing runs through Maicon and Joel Obi.
Juve had no such problems with Pirlo and Claudio Marchisio, two of the Serie’s cleverest men controlling midfield. Alessandro Matri’s scoring slump continued but Caceres drafted last minute got things going for Juve with his header. The wingback had an exceptional game. Arturo Vidal also caught the eye especially when he slipped in that perfect pass which the evergreen Del Piero without breaking step guided past Julio Cesar for his goal.
Juve’s defense appears to be as tough as the one Inter had two years ago under Jose Mourinho. The aging back line still sports holdovers Maicon, Samuel, Lucio, and Zanetti but they are not as formidable a unit. Inter haven’t been able to replace Thiago Motta, probably the single biggest reason for their 2010 success.
With the win, Juve close the gap with AC Milan to four points while Inter are struggling to remain in Europa Cup contention.