Inter got back on track at the Stadio Castellani with goals from Danilo D’Ambrosio and Federico Dimarco, but Empoli had penalty appeals and rued the Samuele Ricci red card.
Simone Inzaghi sat out a touchline ban after his furious reaction to the late Juventus equalising penalty and rotated the squad at the Stadio Castellani. Andrea Pinamonti was eager to impress his parent club, with Federico Di Francesco and Simone Romagnoli injured.
Pinamonti threatened in the opening minutes on Fabiano Parisi’s cross, denied by an Alessandro Bastoni block. Samir Handanovic then had to fly to fingertip away the Stojanovic scorcher, then Danilo D’Ambrosio had to fling himself in the way of Sebastiano Luperto’s shot like a human shield in the six-yard box after a short corner.
At the other end, Guglielmo Vicario fingertipped the Federico Dimarco screamer over the bar.
Inter ran a big risk when D’Ambrosio seemed to clip the back of Nedim Bajrami’s ankle, but penalty appeals were waved away and VAR did not intervene.
Moments later, D’Ambrosio made a difference at the other end, his towering header on a smart chipped Alexis Sanchez assist giving Inter the lead.
Empoli failed to make the most of their corner and as Barella was going on the counter, he was wiped out in midfield by a ridiculous Samuele Ricci tackle. The referee considered it worthy of a straight red card.
Alexis Sanchez had the ball in the back of the net, but was marginally offside on the rebound from a Matteo Darmian parried strike.
Roberto Gagliardini also threatened to extend Inter’s lead, his header thumping the far post on a Darmian cross.
Vicario made an extraordinary save to claw the Lautaro Martinez header off the line, millimetres from crossing over completely.
The goalkeeper also saw his gloves stung by Gagliardini from distance, until Lautaro Martinez’s cross found Federico Dimarco to fire into the roof of the net at the back post for 2-0.
Gagliardini had the ball in the net from a free kick, but admitted straight away it had bounced off his arm, as he misjudged the header.
Handanovic still had to keep out the Leonardo Mancuso strike and Dimarco skimmed the upright, but another Inter goal was disallowed for Stefano Sensi’s offside position.
Empoli 0-2 Inter
D’Ambrosio 34 (I), Dimarco 66 (I)
Sent off: Ricci 52 (E)