Hernanes came back to haunt nine-man Lazio as his double spared Inter's blushes in an action-packed 2-1 Serie A victory on Sunday.
The Brazilian was playing against his former team at the Stadio Olimpico for the first time since his January 2014 move to San Siro, and he equalised Antonio Candreva's early opener with a 24th-minute free-kick - for which Lazio centre-back Mauricio was sent off for a last-man challenge on Rodrigo Palacio.
Argentina international Icardi then fluffed his lines from 12 yards, but that miss did not prove decisive as Hernanes kept his cool when one-on-one with substitute goalkeeper Etrit Berisha six minutes from time to break Lazio's brave resistance.
Shortly after, Handanovic saved smartly from Marco Parolo's 10-yard effort, before the midfielder's follow-up header was nodded off the line brilliantly by Andrea Ranocchia.
The game turned in Inter's favour after Mauricio tugged Palacio to ground when he chased a ball over the top. Referee Davide Massa deemed it a clear goalscoring opportunity and brandished the red card.
Lazio's misery deepened when Hernanes curled the resulting free-kick low into the bottom left-hand corner to silence a crowd that once cheered his goals.
But another big decision went against the hosts in the 61st minute when Marchetti saw red for bringing down Icardi.
There was one last twist, though, as Hernanes raced onto Mateo Kovacic's throughball and calmly slotted beyond Berish in the 84th minute.
