Inter Milan missed the chance to win back the Serie A top on Sunday after a 2-0 home loss to giant killer Sassuolo, which allowed AC Milan to retain the lead. Giacomo Raspadori and Gianluca Scamacca’s strikes in the first half gave Sassuolo an impressive win at San Siro, putting Inter two points behind Milan, who had opened the door to their local rivals with Saturday’s draw at bottom Salernitana. It was Sassuolo’s last win at any of Italy’s big three, having also won at Milan and Juventus this season.
“We’ve created a lot and we’ve also faced quite a few, but we know we have quality, so we faced them,” Sassuolo coach Alessio Dionisi told DAZN.
“We wanted to do that and we were rewarded for it.”
The ball is now in Napoli’s side in a thrilling triple title race as Luciano Spalletti’s side, who are one point behind Inter in third place, can rise on goal difference with a win over Cagliari on Monday night.
Simone Inzaghi’s squad missed midfield central figure Marcelo Brozovic and centre-back Alessandro Bastoni had to be suspended and looked tired after a week-long defeat to Liverpool.
“We are going to try to get some physical and mental energy back. We are still in the fight, there are still 13 games to go and we want to continue.” said Inzaghi.
Sassuolo strikes again
Inter’s current vulnerability came to light in the eighth minute when Berardi pinched the ball off Hakan Calhanoglu and fed Raspadori who hit a low shot that snaked past Samir Handanovic home.
And Scamacca, who is hotly tipped to move to Inter with team-mate Davide Frattesi in the summer, stunned home fans when he entered the area unmarked and headed home his 10th Serie A goal of the season from Hamed Traore’s swinging cross.
The away team could have easily led three goals at half-time, as Domenico Berardi hit the bar in the 38th minute with a beautiful shot.
However, Inter had only themselves to blame for not making it more of a game, as a wave of pressure in the second half brought plenty of opportunities to at least escape with a draw.
The worst offender was Lautaro Martinez, who left the Inter fans open-mouthed in the 72nd minute when he somehow jabbed wide with an open target at his mercy.
Fiorentina watches Champions League
Previously, Krzysztof Piatek helped Fiorentina fans forget Dusan Vlahovic by putting his new team firmly in the Champions League race with the only goal in a 1-0 win over off-form Atalanta.
Poland international Piatek scored a well-done fifth goal in six games in all competitions since returning to Italy from Mainz in January to take Fiorentina to seventh place, five points behind Juventus, who were seeded fourth.
Vincenzo Italiano’s side also has a game on their hands against Juve, whose 1-1 draw with Torino on Friday gave Atalanta, who announced on Friday that a group of American investors had bought a significant stake in the club, the chance to move one up. . place to fourth with a win in Florence.
However, they bid very little when Ruslan Malinovskyi was denied a leveler shortly after falling behind Hans Hateboer, who erred marginally offside when he made a point and was judged to have hindered play.
That decision infuriated coach Gian Piero Gasperini so much that he was sent off and then refused to speak to the media, while the club posted an image of the move highlighting Malinovskyi’s onside position with the message “judge yourself”.
promoted
Also in the Champions League mix are Lazio, who lost Serie A top scorer Ciro Immobile, Luis Alberto and Lucas Leiva who could only draw 1-1 at Udinese.
Maurizio Sarri’s side would have moved within two points of the top four with a win, but were unable to increase their numbers after Felipe Anderson struck just before halftime to equalize Gerard Deulofeu’s early opener for the hosts.
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