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Inter Milan, helped by the visitors' blundering defence, beat Fiorentina 2-0 in Serie A on Saturday to bounce back after suffering two home defeats in the previous week.
Giampaolo Pazzini and Yuto Nagatomo scored either side of halftime for Claudio Ranieri's injury-plagued team and move them away from the danger zone.
Inter were missing captain Javier Zanetti, suspended following the first red card of his Serie A career in last week's home defeat by Udinese, while Wesley Sneijder, Diego Forlan, Dejan Stankovic and Cristian Chivu were among those on the injury list.
Having also lost 2-1 at home to CSKA Moscow in the Champions League on Tuesday, the pressure was back on Inter who are struggling to recover from a dreadful start to the season under Gian Piero Gasperini's short-lived leadership.
They were helped at the San Siro by an insipid performance from the visitors, who were missing injured playmaker Stevan Jovetic.
Inter broke through four minutes before the break when Fiorentina were caught out by Coutinho's lobbed pass and Pazzini pounced to cleverly flick the ball past Boruc.
The former Fiorentina player chose not to celebrate the goal against the club where he spent four seasons.
Inter's win left them ninth with 17 points, one more than Fiorentina who dropped to 14th.
Miroslav Klose scored twice, including the winning goal three minutes from time, to give Lazio a 3-2 win at Lecce where coach Serse Cosmi was making his debut with the hosts.
Genoa won 2-0 at Siena and Romania forward Adrian Mutu gave Cesena a 1-0 win at Palermo, ending the Sicilians' 100 percent home record.
Lazio's win lifted them to second place with 28 points from 14 games, one behind Juventus who visit AS Roma on Sunday.
Milan and Udinese, who both play on Sunday, are third with 27.