Roma defeated the Nerazzurri for the first time since 2017 to end Inter’s Scudetto hopes. Federico Dimarco’s opening goal was overturned by Paulo Dybala’s volley and a Chris Smalling header.
Rick Karsdorp, Georginio Wijnaldum, and Ebrima Darboe were all out injured when Jose Mourinho’s Roma returned to San Siro, but Paulo Dybala and Lorenzo Pellegrini were able to shake off their physical problems, and Tammy Abraham was unexpectedly benched. Kristjan Asllani and Edin Dzeko filled in for Romelu Lukaku and Marcelo Brozovic, who had been absent for more than a month. It was an important battle to stay in the Scudetto race because both teams were coming off losses going into the break for international duty.
A chaotic move resulted in Edin Dzeko having the ball in the net from 12 yards out, but VAR disallowed what would have been his 100th Serie A goal for offside. Lautaro Martinez’s early header was straight at Rui Patricio.
Inter did indeed take the lead when Federico Dimarco rolled the ball from the edge of the area with his weaker right foot and into the near bottom corner with Rui Patricio getting down extremely late. Hakan Calhanoglu’s rocket shot fizzed just wide of the upright.
Due to a prior foul on Denzel Dumfries, Samir Handanovic’s last-ditch save on Leonardo Spinazzola and then Dybala wouldn’t have been recognized.
Inter were shaken by it, though, as a few moments later they gave the ball away carelessly while playing out from the back, and Spinazzola’s cross found Dybala completely unmarked for a magnificent left-foot volley from 11 yards out that twisted back Handanovic’s gloves at the near top corner.
After Dybala left the field to be replaced by Tammy Abraham, Lautaro Martinez curled over from a promising position. On the other hand, Hakan Calhanoglu came awfully close on minute 63 with a free kick that deflected off the crossbar with Rui Patricio well beat.
Abraham managed a daring finish with his back to goal, but straight at Handanovic, while Asllani also curled a shot from the edge of the box over the crossbar.
When Pellegrini drifted in a free kick and Chris Smalling escaped his opponents for a header at the back post, Roma completely turned the game around.
Bellanova, who had been on the bench, missed a shot from a good angle, Abraham turned wide on the counterattack, and Mady Camara’s free kick was very close.
Since defeating Inter 3-1 at San Siro in February 2017, the Giallorossi had gone on a losing streak of six draws and five losses, including their last four straight defeats in Serie A and the Coppa Italia.
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