With all the goals coming in the first half, Claudio Marchisio got the winner just after the half-hour mark after Maicon’s 28th-minute piledriver had cancelled out Mirko Vucinic’s early strike.

The result leaves unbeaten Juventus two points clear of AC Milan ahead of Sunday’s programme with a fifth defeat in nine games leaving struggling Inter fifth from bottom.

Earlier on Saturday, champions AC Milan went second after Zlatan Ibrahimovic struck twice in a 3-2 win at Roma, while Catania moved to sixth with a 2-1 defeat of 10-man Napoli.