Substitute Tommaso Baldanzi secured a historic 1-0 win for Empoli at the Giuseppe Meazza, securing back-to-back wins in Serie A for the first time since December 2021, following a Milan Škriniar red card in the first half.
He could do nothing about Henrikh Mkhitaryan waving his boot in the face of Francesco Caputo following a corner in the early stages, but despite Caputo drawing blood, referee Antonio Rapuano and VAR bizarrely waved the penalty claim away.
Despite being buoyed by a 3-0 Supercoppa victory over city rivals AC Milan, Inter were off the pace.
The pivotal moment of the first period was yet to come though, with Škriniar summing up Inter’s half by receiving an agonising second yellow card, as Caputo’s head was again the talking point due to another high boot.
Even with the man advantage, Empoli still needed to show bravery to end a miserable run of nine straight defeats at the hands of Inter.
Nedim Bajrami wasted a glorious opportunity midway through the second half, rifling down the throat of André Onana following an enterprising Nicolò Cambiaghi run.
Not one to dwell on errors, Bajrami then made amends minutes later by feeding substitute Baldanzi, whose effort from the edge of the box was too hot to handle for Onana.
