Inter Milan’s grip on the Serie A title loosened further after being held to a 1-1 draw at Fiorentina, leaving them winless in three league matches and seeing their lead at the top cut to six points over city rivals AC Milan.
Inter made the perfect start when Pio Esposito glanced a superb header from Nicolo Barella’s cross into the net inside the opening minute. Barella then had a deflected effort ruled out for offside, and Fiorentina looked in danger of a heavy defeat.
The hosts gradually found their footing, however, and created several opportunities to level before the break. Moise Kean came agonisingly close to sliding home a cross at the far post, Albert Gudmundsson failed to connect cleanly with a promising delivery, and Kean had another goal disallowed for offside in a late first-half rally that gave the home side reason for encouragement.
Inter spurned two chances to double their lead after the break, with Manuel Akanji and Marcus Thuram both missing the target from corner deliveries. Fiorentina grew stronger as the half wore on and earned their reward in the 77th minute when Cher Ndour reacted quickest to fire home the rebound after Yann Sommer could only parry Gudmundsson’s angled attempt. Jack Harrison then went inches away from winning it for the hosts, curling a left-footed strike just past the far post.
The draw extends Fiorentina’s unbeaten run to five games across all competitions and gives a timely boost to their survival bid. They sit 16th in the table, two points above the bottom three. For Inter, it was a missed opportunity to re-establish an eight-point lead at the summer
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