Diego Milito scored the only goal of the game as Inter Milan claimed a 1-0 victory over CSKA Moscow in their Champions League quarter-final first leg tie at the San Siro on Wednesday night.
The home side may have dumped Chelsea out in impressive fashion in the previous round but they were frustrated for long periods by their Russian opponents.
However, they finally made the breakthrough midway through the second half when Milito finished smartly from the edge of the box.
Inter really should have added a second goal in the final quarter of the game but Goran Pandev and Wesley Sneijder both wasted excellent opportunities to strengthen the Nerazzurri's hand ahead of what could prove a very tricky second leg in Moscow.
Inter's elimination of Chelsea in the last 16 radically altered many pundits' view of Jose Mourinho's side but they looked horribly flat in the opening 45 minutes, with their recent stuttering form in Serie A undoubtedly a factor in that regard.
Inter had the better of it but their best opening came right at the end of the half when Sneijder miscued in the box after a neat one-two with Milito.
The Italian champions were far more cohesive in the second half, though, and they really should have taken the lead when Cambiasso found Stankovic in some space in the box on the hour but the ball got caught under the latter's feet and he ended up merely poking the ball into the grateful arms of Igor Akinfeev.
The CSKA stopper was called upon again moments later, doing well to hold on Samuel Eto'o's well-struck drive from the left-hand edge of the box.
However, Akinfeev could do nothing about Inter's goal, which arrived on 65 minutes, Milito taking a pass from Sneijder before stepping inside his man and then firing the ball low into the bottom left corner of the CSKA goal.
Inter were now rampant and Pandev came desperately close to making it two when he skilfully rounded Akinfeev only to see his goal-bound effort acrobatically cleared off the line by Aleksei Berezutsky.
Sneijder then shot wastefully wide of the near post after being played in by Eto'o before Akinfeev again proved why he is so highly rated by pulling off a fine double-save, from Cambiasso and then Stankovic, to give CSKA every chance of turning the tie around on home soil next week.