Cagliari had a more than positive first half, going into halftime with the score at 0-0 against league leaders Inter: the Rossoblù were enterprising, especially at the start.

In the Rossoblu's 3-5-2 formation, Ibrahim Sulemana emerged victorious, replacing Luca Mazzitelli, who was injured against Cremonese, ahead of Alessandro Deiola and Michael Folorunsho. Within a minute, Cagliari were immediately dangerous, with Gaetano making a run through the middle and reaching twenty meters to shoot. His shot was deflected for a corner, but de Vrij headed it past Mina from the corner. Pisacane's team got off to a great start, with Sebastiano Esposito (following a Palestra play) scoring in the third minute, and Josep Martínez—played in place of Sommer tonight—slamming it out for a corner.

Cagliari found space in the opposition defense and came close to scoring in the 12th minute: Obert found Borrelli from the left, but the center forward couldn't find the space to shoot, but Palestra found him, and his first-time right-footed shot into the penalty area went over . Inter's first big chance came in the 16th minute, a one-two between Thuram and Pio Esposito. The latter couldn't close down (the Nerazzurri's number 94 couldn't reach the return pass), but the rebound favored Dimarco, whose left-footed shot was blocked in the six-yard box by Adopo, leaving Caprile beaten. In the 19th minute, number 32 again looked for Pio Esposito, but Mina saved his volley.