ROME (Xinhua) --
Underdog Empoli have earned a shock 1-0 victory over Inter Milan at San Siro as Inter defender Milan Skriniar’s red card proved costly.
Inter were coming off a Supercoppa win last week and entered into San Siro still without Marcelo Brozovic, while Empoli had kept a four-game unbeaten run.
Both sides created a couple of chances as Empoli’s Nicolo Cambiaghi’s angle drive was denied, while at the other end Federico Dimarco also saw his volley blocked.
Inter were cut to 10 players in the 40th minute as Skriniar’s foot went high and accidentally caught Francesco Caputo’s head, receiving his second yellow card.
The Slovakian’s red card became a turning point as the away side broke the deadlock in the 66th minute when Tommaso Baldanzi unleashed a low strike at the edge of the box that went through Inter’s goalkeeper Andre Onana.
With the frustrating defeat, Inter still rank third with 37 points, 13 points off leaders Napoli.
Elsewhere, Bologna tied with Cremonese 1-1 on home turf. The away side took the lead on David Okereke’s penalty, but it was ruined by his teammate Vlad Chiriches’ own-goal.