INTER MILAN 1-1 FIORENTINA. INTER’S DEFENCE OF THE SERIE A TITLE TOOK ANOTHER SETBACK, AS THEY DREW WITH FIORENTINA AT HOME.
Inter Milan’s defence of their Serie A title took another setback, as they could only manage a 1-1 draw against a spirited Fiorentina side. The ‘Nerazzurri’ have now won just once in their last seven league games, as their pursuit for a second successive Scudetto took another hit.
Despite Inter’s initial onslaught, Fiorentina looked like a side capable of upsetting the ‘Nerazzurri’s title charge with advances of their own. Nicolás González and Riccardo Saponara were the ones to charge the visitors upfront in a bid to threaten the home side’s defence, albeit with rather meek efforts as the game approached the midway point.
Having played second-fiddle at home, Simone Inzaghi’s outfit slowly got back into groove as the clock ran down. Edin Džeko threw away an opportunity to draw first blood in the 37th minute, forcing ‘Viola’ shotstopper Pietro Terracciano into a tremendous one-handed save. Just moments later, Lautaro Martínez thought he had opened the scoring after latching onto Denzel Dumfries’ deflected cross, but the goal was quickly ruled out for offside, keeping the game goalless going into HT.
The visitors restarted proceedings with the same enthusiasm that got them going earlier, and it didn’t take long for a breakthrough to arrive. Inter let their concentration loose at the back in the 50th minute, and the ‘Viola’ capitalised via Lucas Torreira’s outstanding finish from point-blank range. However, their joy lasted for only five minutes as Inter equalised from Dumfries’ brilliant header on the back of Ivan Perišić’s cross.
Netting the equaliser had Inter’s tails up as they began to dominate and ramp up the pressure. The pressure paid off when Martínez was felled in the box, and a penalty was awarded to Inter, only for VAR to intervene and advise the referee to rewatch the incident via the pitch-side monitor, after which he overturned his initial decision.
Thereafter, an end-to-end encounter ensued at the Meazza, with both teams looking to better each other with every passing move. A host of substitutions by Simone Inzaghi prompted the hosts to adorn a different approach in the final-third as the match entered the final ten minutes, but Vincenzo Italiano’s men showed grit and perseverance to hold off and inflict a major setback in Inter’s title hopes.
