Inter coach Andrea Stramaccioni relished the chance to make Juventus' Beppe Marotta eat his words as the Nerazzurri ended Juve's unbeaten run.
A brace from Diego Milito and a final coup de grace from Rodrigo Palacio were enough for Inter to overcome Arturo Vidal's early goal and deny Juve the chance to go 50 league games without defeat.
The Milan club also closed the gap at the top of the table to a single point, and Stramaccioni admitted Juve director general Marotta's pre-match mind-games had steeled his resolve to oversee a victory.
The Juve chief had accused Stramaccioni of being tactically naive before last night's game, but a victorious Stramaccioni told Gazzetta.it: "I think we deserve respect.
"What Marotta said before the game troubled me. He made a sarcastic comment about our lack of preparation.
"We work very hard and that's clear, we made it difficult for a team that has been the strongest in Italy for the last two years."
Juve remain first in the standings, nevertheless.
"This result doesn't change much, but it was a show of force. We haven't achieved anything yet."
Vidal had the hosts ahead within just 18 seconds at a sold-out Juventus Stadium, but if anything, the setback steeled Stramaccioni's men and they steadily began to dominate the game.
Marotta, speaking on behalf of suspended Bianconeri boss Antonio Conte, said: "Inter made the most of the chances they created, and we didn't.
"Unfortunately we lost, the fact that it was against Inter hurts a bit.
"We are still proud of these lads, who didn't lose for 49 games, but now we must look forward.
"The Nerazzurri will compete at the top right until the end, we accept this defeat and we're not going to make any bones about it.
"The loss represents an opportunity to improve, we will watch the video of the game and evaluate what went wrong."
