Hakan Calhanoglu’s first-half penalty helped Inter Milan beat Juventus away from home to keep their faint title hopes alive.
Juventus were punished for wasting a host of chances in the opening period, with veteran defender Giorgio Chiellini guilty of missing the most glaring of them.
Their inability to open the scoring proved costly as Inter earned a penalty in first-half stoppage time following a VAR review.
The home side felt that the justice was done when Wojciech Szczesny saved Hakan Calhanoglu’s penalty, only for the referee to order a retake, which the Turkish midfielder converted to give Inter the lead and drag Simone Inzaghi’s side back into the Serie A title race.
The goal did not change the balance of play, however, as Paulo Dybala and Dusan Vlahovic both went close to equalizing in the second half before Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic’s heroics to tip Denis Zakaria’s brilliant strike onto the post kept the score in Inter’s favor.
It remained one-way traffic until the final whistle, but Juve, who had 23 shots at goal to Inter’s five, could not make the pressure pay, as Inter Milan beat Juventus and sealed all three points.
Juve’s first league defeat since November leaves them on 59 points in fourth in the standings, four points behind Inter in third, with the champions now three behind leaders AC Milan.
Napoli, meanwhile, moved level on points with Serie A leaders AC Milan after a hard-earned 3-1 win at Atalanta. Lorenzo Insigne’s penalty and Matteo Politano’s fine finish put the visitors on course for victory
Atalanta deservedly got themselves back into the contest in the 58th minute when Marten de Roon headed home to give the title chasers a cause for concern.
With the hosts committing bodies forward, Napoli put the game to bed nine minutes from time as Elif Elmas added the finishing touch to a rapid counterattack.
Napoli players and staff celebrated with their supporters at the final whistle as they joined Milan on 66 points as Luciano Spalletti’s side look to win their first Scudetto since 1990.
