MILAN - Internazionale scored an 89th-minute equaliser to deny 10-man Roma a crucial victory on Wednesday and maintain their comfortable lead at the top of Serie A.
Francesco Totti rediscovered his scoring touch to fire Roma into a 38th-minute lead and he looked to have blown the title race wide open until Javier Zanetti salvaged a late point for the league leaders.
The dismissal of Philippe Mexes in the 85th minute for a second bookable offence did not help the visitors, but to blame the defender for the squandering of a precious lead would be harsh as Inter dominated the game and created the better chances.
It was Totti's first goal in six games since returning from injury, but it was not enough to give his side three points. Had second-placed Roma hung on to their lead, they would have reduced the gap behind Inter to six points with 13 games to play, but the last-gasp equaliser means the capital side remain nine points adrift.
Roma coach Luca Spalletti described this fixture as "the match of truth" on Tuesday so he would not have been encouraged by the way his side started the game.
They allowed the hosts in behind their back line with alarming ease in the first minute and were grateful that an alert Mexes was on hand to intercept Luis Figo's teasing cross.
Figo was involved again two minutes later when he threaded a superb ball to Maxwell who teed up up Dejan Stankovic, only for the midfielder to blast over the bar.
Shell-shocked Roma eventually woke up and almost broke the deadlock on the counter attack when Julio Cesar parried Simone Perrotta's strike.
Patrick Vieira and Figo were pulling the strings in midfield and good link-up play between the pair played in Hernan Crespo, whose attempted backheel to Maicon was just intercepted.
Vieria then produced a pinpoint cross for Crespo in the 19th minute but the striker's acrobatic effort came back off a post.
It seemed only a matter of time before the hosts would score but, surprisingly, the goal came at the opposite end when Totti collected Marco Cassetti's pass and struck powerfully into the bottom right corner for his first goal since January 13.
Inter should have pulled level 10 minutes after the break but Figo shot wide after latching on to Maicon's cross, and Roma's Rodrigo Taddei was equally profligate soon after when he attempted to lob goalkeeper Doni but shot wide.
The hosts suffered a blow in the 64th minute when Maxwell was forced off with an injury, leaving Inter with only 10 men as all three substitutions had already been made. But 20 minutes later, a second yellow for Mexes after a mis-timed challenge on Crespo evened things out.
In contrast to Roma's scant chances, Inter poured forward and rained shots on Doni. The stopper saved superbly to keep out Crespo's header in the 87th minute but he could do nothing about Zanetti's crisp volley two minutes later after Nicolas Burdisso's cross had only been half cleared.
