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Inter 2 Fiorentina 1: D'Ambrosio maintains Nerazzurri revival

Inter's recent revival continued as Danilo D'Ambrosio's late goal secured a 2-1 win over Fiorentina at the San Siro on Tuesday.

By Opta
Danilo DAmbrosio struck late winner for Inter

Milan, September 26: Inter's recent revival continued as Danilo D'Ambrosio's late goal secured a 2-1 win over Fiorentina at the San Siro on Tuesday (September 25).

Results | Points Table

Last-gasp wins against Tottenham in the Champions League and Sampdoria in Serie A in the past week had injected life into the Nerazzurri's stuttering start to the season and another three points will further ease the pressure on Luciano Spalletti.

Inter's cause was aided significantly on the stroke of half-time when referee Paolo Silvio Mazzoleni punished Vitor Hugo for handball inside the penalty area after a VAR review, Mauro Icardi opening his league account for the season from the resulting spot-kick.

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The Viola thought they had secured a share of the spoils after 52 minutes when Federico Chiesa's long-range drive took a huge deflection off Milan Skriniar to wrong-foot Samir Handanovic, but D'Ambrosio had other ideas.

Fiorentina started confidently and saw an early Kevin Mirallas effort crash back off the base of the post.

Inter then belatedly woke from their slumber and carved out a hat-trick of superb chances. Antonio Candreva's powerful volley arrowed just over the crossbar, Icardi fired straight at Alban Lafont after a sweeping counter-attack and Ivan Perisic whipped a first-time effort agonisingly past the far post.

At the other end, Giovanni Simeone hit his effort straight at Handanovic after being played in by Chiesa before Inter took a fortuitous lead on the stroke half-time through Icardi's contentious spot-kick.

Clearly aggrieved by the decision, the visitors started the second half brightly and were rewarded when Chiesa's drive was diverted in by the unlucky Skriniar.

Inter scarcely looked like finding a winner during a tepid second half, but D'Ambrosio burst forward to collect Icardi's pass and stroke past Lafont in the 77th minute to secure maximum points.

What it means: Inter find their form

After a sluggish start to the season it looks like Inter are finally up and running. It was not pretty - and was certainly aided by a generous decision for Icardi's penalty - but a second consecutive Serie A win moves them up to 10 points, level with Fiorentina.

Icardi off the mark

He was Serie A's joint top-scorer last season, but it took him until his fifth outing to register this term. It might have only been from the spot, but the Argentinian showed enough in his all-round display to suggest a goal glut could be on its way.

Perisic fails to sparkle

After lighting up the World Cup down Croatia's left flank, Perisic's form this season has been something of a disappointment. He missed a golden chance in the first half and failed to provide much in the way of threat in the second period before being substituted for Roberto Gagliardini late on.

Key Opta stats: Icardi loves facing the Viola

- Inter have won two consecutive Serie A games for the first time since April.

- Mauro Icardi has scored 11 goals against Fiorentina in Serie A, his best opponent in the competition.

- Icardi has scored with 10 of his last 11 top-flight penalties.

- Inter have scored four goals in the last 15 minutes, more than any other team in Serie A this season.

- Before this, the last time Icardi has both scored and assisted in a Serie A game was in January 2017 against Chievo.

What's next?

Inter have another home game on Saturday (September 29) when Cagliari visit Milan, while Fiorentina welcome Atalanta to the Stadio Artemio Franchi a day later.

Story first published: Wednesday, September 26, 2018, 8:11 [IST]
Other articles published on Sep 26, 2018