Neither side fired a shot in the opening quarter-hour, but that turned out to be a poor indication of what was to come in an enthralling first half.
Luis Henrique’s low cross was heavily deflected by Cambiaso, so much so that it completely wrongfooted Michele Di Gregorio, who threw a leg out, but couldn’t prevent the ball from bobbling over the line.
Juventus responded positively and drew level nine minutes later when Weston McKennie supplied the cross from the byline, and after Jonathan David failed to make meaningful contact at the front post, Cambiaso was on hand to turn home at the back post.
Undeterred by that setback, Inter pushed to retake the lead, and they came agonisingly close as Piotr Zieliński dinked an effort over the onrushing Di Gregorio as he went to ground, only to be denied by the covering Gleison Bremer on the line.
Remarkably, the Nerazzurri came even closer to restoring their advantage before the break when Marcus Thuram’s initial header was parried into the path of Alessandro Bastoni, who struck the post from point-blank range before the ball bounced across the face of goal and onto the opposite post.
Having survived that scare, Juve were then reduced to 10 men moments later, as Pierre Kalulu received a second yellow card for a trip on Bastoni, leaving the Frenchman furious with the decision.
Inter had gone on to win 18 of the previous 20 league games in which they’d opened the scoring this season (D1, L1), but they evidently had work to do in a back-and-forth contest.
Yann Sommer was certainly kept busy after the restart, getting a strong hand to Cambiaso’s strike after an ambitious solo run before then denying Manuel Locatelli and McKennie on the follow-up.
The hosts were quiet after the interval, but a pair of fierce strikes from Hakan Calhanoglu and Thuram saw them come to life before edging ahead in the 76th minute through Francesco Pio Esposito, who headed Federico Dimarco’s cross inside the far post, marking the full-back’s ninth goal involvement in five games.
Dimarco then had the chance to net Inter’s third, but skied off-target from a promising position, allowing Juve back into the contest as Locatelli swept a first-time shot from just inside the box with seven minutes to play.
Di Gregorio was needed to make a reaction save, thwarting Yann Bisseck’s header, but he could do nothing to stop Zielinski from drilling a low shot through Locatelli’s leg and into the back of the net.
Ange-Yoan Bonny’s last-gasp shot was cleared off the line by Teun Koopmeiners, but it made little difference as the Nerazzurri claimed the points.
A sixth win in a row extends Inter’s unbeaten Serie A streak to 13 matches (W12, D1), giving them an eight-point buffer over second-placed AC Milan, albeit having played one more game than their city rivals. For Juventus, it’s just one win in five competitive matches (D2, L2), keeping the Bianconeri fourth for the time being.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Piotr Zielinski (Inter)