Inter bounce back to beat Spal, Piatek rescues Milan at Chievo

MILAN: Matteo Politano and Roberto Gagliardini scored in the second half as Inter Milan beat Spal 2-0 on Sunday to revive their Champions League chase before next week’s derby showdown with local rivals AC Milan.

Inter had taken just a point from their last two games, falling at Cagliari last time out, and desperately needed a morale-boosting win to keep pace with AC Milan before next week’s Derby della Madonnina.

The win keeps Inter one point behind third-placed AC Milan who beat bottom club Chievo 2-1 on Saturday for a fifth league win in a row.

Argentina star Mauro Icardi remained on the Inter sidelines and has not played since being stripped of the captaincy a month ago.

Luciano Spalletti’s side were frustrated in the first half by SPAL who are just two points above the relegation zone.

Lautaro Martinez looked to have given Inter the lead after half an hour on front of 61,000 fans in the San Siro but a VAR review awarded handball.

The hosts also lost Croatian midfielder Marcelo Brozovic, who limped off and was replaced by Antonio Candreva.

Politano finally broke through after 68 minutes with Gagliardini turning in a Cedric assist nine minutes later. The race for Champions League football remains tight with Roma, Torino and Atalanta six points behind fourth-placed Inter Milan.

Torino continued their impressive form with Andrea Belotti bagging a brace to extend their winning run to three games with a 2-1 win at Frosinone.

Walter Mazzarri’s side move sixth and into the Europa League places, level on 44 points with Roma, who play at Empoli on Monday under new coach Claudio Ranieri, and Atalanta who beat Sampdoria 2-1.

Colombian Duvan Zapata broke through for the Bergamo outfit on 50 minutes and Robin Gosens scored the winner after 77 minutes.

Fabio Quagliarella had equalised for Sampdoria from the spot on 67 minutes as the 36-year-old went top of the Serie A goal-scoring charts with 20 in 27 games, one more than Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo.  Earlier, Krzysztof Piatek struck again to rescue a 2-1 win for AC Milan at bottom club Chievo on Saturday, keeping their Champions League push firmly on track, but the Polish striker was accused of scoring with a ‘kung fu’ kick.

Piatek joined Milan from Genoa in January and has now scored eight goals in nine matches, as the club notched up a fifth straight league win to remain unbeaten since before Christmas.

Agencies