Gonzalez's arrogance takes revenge: Inter Milan takes first place

Celebrating the 1-0 goal he just scored: Lautaro Martinez.
IMAGO/HochZwei/guild

Juventus (1-1 vs. Empoli) and Milan (2-2 vs. Bologna) made mistakes on Saturday and gave Inter passes to gain an advantage in the title race. However, the Nerazzurri had to go to Fiorentina, which is not an easy task, but one that Inter did not shy away from, as they had not lost in Tuscany since April 22, 2017, that is, six league matches.

However, at first, the Milanese faced some difficulties, also because the Viola started lightly and took the initiative. Florence showed that they were equal in many aspects, but they revealed weaknesses in the end and therefore had no clear chances. Bonaventura had the best when Sommer prevented him from scoring in the 34th minute.

Martinez shows brains

At this point, Inter, who had caught themselves after a good ten minutes and were behaving more purposefully, had already squandered two good chances (Carlos Augusto, 14; Fratesi, 33) and took the lead through Lautaro Martinez: the Argentine had one. A corner kick from the left at the near post was confirmed strongly but somewhat against Parisi and then headed past friend and foe to make the score 1-0 (14th place).

This was also the result of the first half, also because referee Gianluca Aureliano Florentiner did not comply with calls for a penalty kick for an alleged foul by Bastoni on Ranieri (35th minute) – a scene that was also the subject of a VAR check.

Florence is running out of ideas

After the break, the Milanese retreated further and wanted to tempt Florence and launch a decisive counterattack. As a result, the Viola had more possession, but did not know how to do much with more possession of the ball. The game continued like this for a long time.

In the 76th minute, the Tuscans suddenly had a great chance to equalize after referee Aureliano awarded a penalty kick following a VAR intervention (Sommer hit Nzola's head with his fist instead of the ball). But Gonzalez did it with a lot of arrogance, delaying briefly and then driving the ball into the middle of Sommer's arms.

So it ended up being a narrow 1-0 win, with Inter ahead in Serie A straight ahead of their derby clash against Juventus at San Siro next Sunday (Live! from 8:45pm on Kicker). Meanwhile, Florence will already face a challenge in Frosinone next Friday (8.45pm).