Inter suffer Fiorentina defeat

MILAN: Inter Milan slumped to a 1-0 home defeat by Fiorentina on Saturday as Giacomo Bonaventura’s second-half goal dealt a blow to their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League from Serie A.Simone Inzaghi’s Inter, who will face Benfica in this season’s Champions League quarter-finals, remain in third place.

But they are only two points clear of AC Milan and fifth-placed Atalanta who saw off Cremonese 3-1 earlier Saturday, with Roma one point further behind ahead of their game against Sampdoria on Sunday.

Juventus notched a seventh win in eight league matches by beating Verona 1-0 to keep their Champions League bid alive despite a 15-point deduction. Juve sit four points off the top four in seventh spot.

Inter, who won the title two seasons ago, have now lost three successive matches in Serie A and four of their last five. The hosts dominated for long periods at the San Siro but struggled to find a breakthrough as Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Romelu Lukaku both went close in the first half.

“I think the only thing we are missing is goals,” Mkhitaryan told DAZN. “We haven’t scored in three games and once again tonight we could’ve scored three or four in the first half alone to finish the game.”

Inter should have forged ahead five minutes after the restart, but Lukaku somehow failed to get proper contact on Alessandro Bastoni’s low cross while standing three yards out from an open net.

He was made to pay less than three minutes later, as Bonaventura nodded in from close range after Inter goalkeeper Andre Onana had saved Arthur Cabral’s initial header. Inter never seriously threatened an equaliser as Fiorentina extended their winning streak in the top flight to five games, moving within seven points of the European places.

Atalanta moved level on points with fourth-placed AC Milan thanks to a comfortable win at bottom club Cremonese. Gian Piero Gasperini’s team made it back-to-back victories either side of the international break to leapfrog Roma into fifth, behind Milan on head-to-head record.