Kristjan Asllani kept his cool to convert an early penalty, as Inter with Barcelona on their minds did just enough to beat Verona and keep the Scudetto race somewhat alive.
It has been a strange couple of weeks for the Nerazzurri, who lost three in a row in all competition, falling three points behind new Serie A leaders Napoli, but earned a 3-3 Champions League semi-final draw at Barcelona and were preparing for the second leg on Tuesday.
Hakan Calhanoglu and coach Simone Inzaghi were suspended after plea bargains in the investigation into associations with unsavoury elements of the ultras groups, plus Lautaro Martinez and Benjamin Pavard injured, so there was heavy squad rotation.
Hellas were coming off two straight defeats, with Diego Coppola and Daniele Ghilardi suspended, plus Pawel Dawidowicz and Abdou Harroui sidelined, with Casper Tengstedt back on the bench.
In the opening minutes, Nicolas Valentini rather foolishly moved his fist towards the ball after a Carlos Augusto run and pass, so the penalty was awarded following a VAR On-Field Review.
Kristjan Asllani stepped up and sent Lorenzo Montipò the wrong way, converting off the inside of the right boot.
Amine Sarr forced a save out of Josep Martinez with a powerful angled drive, while Marko Arnautovic could only graze his head to the Nicola Zalewski cross from six yards.
Asllani’s screamer from outside the area skimmed the crossbar and another Arnautovic header turned wide from a promising position, while Ondrej Duda also fired over and Tomas Suslov hit the side-netting for Verona.
The Scudetto might be beyond them, because Napoli now need just seven points to guarantee the title from the remaining three rounds, but Inter can keep the race open for a little longer.
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