Inter risked throwing away a 4-0 half-time lead against Palermo, but eventually Diego Milito marked his comeback with the goal for 5-3!

The Nerazzurri concluded this midweek round with the hopes of breaking away at the top after Juve's 5-1 thrashing of Sampdoria last night. Mario Balotelli started despite a flu virus, though Wesley Sneijder was sidelined and only the bench for Diego Milito and Thiago Motta. Former Inter legend Walter Zenga returned to San Siro with three consecutive wins under his belt, but Cesare Bovo was suspended and Federico Balzaretti and Fabio Liverani injured. Melinte received his Serie A debut.

The referee pointed to the spot just five minutes into the match. Balotelli somehow managed to turn round between three defenders at the byline and eventually Melinte's leg tripped him up. It was a clear penalty, but there was a row when Balotelli was determined to take it and had to be led away by captain Javier Zanetti. Samuel Eto'o did convert by sending the goalkeeper the wrong way, but Super Mario did not celebrate. Eventually the two embraced after Dejan Stankovic and Ivan Cordoba had a word with the 18-year-old.

Mark Bresciano immediately prevented an Eto'o second by sliding in to intercept the cross when he was lining up the shot from six yards. At the other end Douglas Maicon gave the ball away and Fabrizio Miccoli threaded through for Cristian Chivu to cut off Edison Cavani.

Javier Pastore drilled over at the end of a well-worked team move and an Eto'o volleyed chip from Sulley Muntari's long ball went wide. On 17 minutes Julio Cesar was at full stretch to beat away Fabio Simplicio's snapshot, set up by Miccoli.

Eto'o went on a slalom along the byline past Migliaccio and Goian accidentally deflected the ball towards his own net from a couple of yards, but Salvatore Sirigu performed a stunning reaction save. From the corner Esteban Cambiasso crossed for Balotelli's header into the ground that somehow went wide. Both Eto'o and Muntari failed to get on the end of Balotelli's counter.

Miccoli's touched-on free kick from 28m was dipping into the bottom corner and bounced right in front of Julio Cesar, but the goalkeeper still managed to parry with a very difficult save. On the corner Palermo had a decent penalty shout as Kjaer couldn't get his head to the ball because Walter Samuel was pulling his jersey.

Palermo lost possession in midfield to spark a counter-attack, but Sirigu did well to parry Eto'o's angled drive. Cambiasso combined with Stankovic to tear the Rosanero defence apart, but the Argentine fired over.

Sirigu palmed another Maicon angled drive round the upright with one hand after the Brazilian had surged past Melinte, but could do nothing on Balotelli's towering header from the resulting Maicon corner to the near post.

Cavani horribly wasted a great chance when a free kick was cleared to him unmarked at the back post.

It was 3-0 just shy of the half-time break in a chaotic move. Sirigu was unable to grab hold of a looping header because Kjaer got in his way, so Cambiasso and finally Balotelli tapped in from point-blank range.

Less than 60 seconds later Balotelli drew two defenders to the byline and pulled back for the on-rushing Eto'o to net at the near post.

Abel Hernandez replaced debutant Melinte, so Bresciano went wide, while Davide Santon came on for Chivu. Balotelli went off soon after with what appeared to be a mixture of flu and toothache, so Milito made his comeback.

Palermo got back into the game with the first Miccoli career against Inter in his career. He ran between Samuel and Cordoba to trap a long Simplicio ball forward, Julio Cesar could only slow it down for the tap into an empty net.

Hernandez trapped a cross-field pass with perfect technique, but a defender managed to cut him off at the near post. That was just a warning as Hernandez bagged his first Serie A goal to make it 4-2. Cassani sprung the offside trap down the right to cross low for a Hernandez volley with the inside of his foot.

Milito nearly made it 5-2 but his angled drive was deflected just wide off Kjaer's ankle. But it was 4-3 moments later! Miccoli sprung the offside trap from a Cassano flick with the outside of his right boot and lifted the ball over the on-rushing Julio Cesar.

Inter were shell-shocked and it got worse when Eto'o pulled up as he took a shot, seemingly spraining his foot. The Cameroon international limped off for Thiago Motta.

Milito threaded through for Motta's angled drive smothered at the near post and Inter washed away the final fears of an epic comeback. Maicon got away from Pastore at the byline and flashed the ball across the face of goal for Milito's tap-in from six yards.

It still wasn't over, as Miccoli sent Hernandez through the middle and the South American blasted over under pressure. At the other end Milito failed to make the most of an error on Muntari's cross, scuffing it into Sirigu's arms.

In stoppages Miccoli had a free kick from 25 metres and stung Julio Cesar's palms, as Palermo left San Siro with their heads held high.