PERUGIA - The Nerazzurri fell to their heaviest defeat of the season so far on Sunday afternoon, losing 4-1 to Perugia at Renato Curi stadium. Cuper's troops were twice stunned on the break in the second period as the Griffins added two well-worked goals to the first two efforts which stemmed from two extremely debatable decisions by referee Paolo Bertini.
The first chance fell to the Nerazzurri in the 6th minute, Kallon heading an Emre corner wide of Kalac's right-hand post. But it was the Griffins who took the lead in the 10th minute when referee Bertini pointed to the penalty spot after Cordoba was judged to have handled the ball in his own area. The Colombian defender, who actually used his thigh to make a goal-line clearance from a Tedesco header, was booked by Bertini before Ze Maria smashed the spot kick into the top right-hand corner.
Inter came straight back at their opponents, Vieri sending a shot over the Perugia bar after beating Milanese in the 14th minute. Bobo was involved in a defence-splitting move a minute later. He fed the ball through to Kallon inside the area after some magic by Emre in the middle of the park, but the Sierra Leone striker failed to get a shot on target. Kallon had another chance on the half hour, but sent a powerful right-footed shot wide of the far post after intercepting a ball on the edge of the Umbrian box.
But Inter, who continued to dominate the first half in terms of ball possession, increasingly ran into difficulties in finding a way past Cosmi's very well-organised defensive unit, and Vryzas put the home side 2-0 up in the 34th minute with a near-post 'header' that sailed over Toldo and went in at the far post. Bertini didn't spot that the 'header' was in fact a hand ball. Heroics from Francesco Toldo prevented Perugia from going 3-0 up with a save off the line from Tedesco in the 38th minute.
If Perugia's first two goals were dubious, there was nothing wrong with the two second-half efforts. Cuper replaced Francesco Coco with Giovanni Pasquale at the beginning of the second period, then 10 minutes into the restart Perugia hit the Nerazzurri on the counter-attack and Fusani raced into the area to apply the final touch to a fine move, beating a man before shooting into the bottom right-hand corner from 11 yards out. Cuper made his second substitution directly after the third goal, bringing on Domenico Morfeo for Almeyda.
Vryzas scored his second of the game in the 64th minute with a shot that found the net at the far post after excellent work by an in-form Miccoli, and at 4-0 down, Cuper threw on Marco Materazzi for Sergio Conceiçao.
Things went from bad to worse when Gigi Di Biagio was deservedly given his marching orders in the 73rd minute for a sliding tackle on Fusani. Bobo Vieri scored a consolation goal for the Nerazzurri 11 minutes from time, converting a penalty after he was brought down in the box by Kalac.
Inter finish the first half of the Serie A season in second spot with 36 points from 17 matches.
