Inter Milan will have a chance to win the Serie A title in the Milan derby despite slipping to a 2-2 home draw with lowly Cagliari on Sunday, while Roma said defender Evan Ndicka is recovering after he collapsed during their game at Udinese.
Nicolas Viola snatched a potentially huge draw in 14th-placed Cagliari’s bid for Serie A survival as Inter failed to extend their 14-point lead at the top of the league after their closest challengers AC Milan drew a spectacular match at Sassuolo 3-3.
Viola struck with seven minutes remaining at the San Siro, shortly after Hakan Calhanoglu had fired Inter back into the lead from the penalty spot following Eldor Shomurodov’s 64th-minute strike which levelled Marcus Thuram’s early opener.
Italian Viola could have even given Cagliari, who are four points above the relegation zone, a stunning win in stoppage time had he not headed a golden opportunity straight at Yann Sommer.
“It’s annoying not to win after going ahead twice because we wanted the victory in front of our fans,” said Inzaghi to DAZN.
“We’re very close to a big goal but we know that we still need points to make it mathematically certain.”
A win would have left Inter needing only a draw in the Milan derby on Monday week to beat their local rivals to a 20th league crown.
Instead Sunday’s draw means Inter have to win a sixth straight match against their city rivals if they are to claim the Scudetto with five matches remaining. Regardless, save for an unprecendented collapse, it is simply a matter of time until Simone Inzaghi’s team will win the league, and it could yet come in the derby.
That would be a bitter blow for Milan, who have not been in the title race as Inter have charged off into the distance since the turn of the year.
Noah Okafor salvaged a hard-fought point for Milan in the 84th minute on a hot spring day in Reggio Emilia.—AFP
