NHL
WORLD OF JRS
NFL
NBA
CFL
MLB
NCAA
Daylight Saving Time
Video
Listen
The passage
Birth
Bardown
. . .
ROME (AP) — It’s only the season’s midpoint and Inter Milan may already have its lasting image of what is looking more and more like a Serie A title run.
The moment came on Saturday when Davide Frattesi jumped over a yellow fence bordering San Siro and erupted in joy from the crowd as his teammates assaulted him so savagely that they pulled down his shorts and exposed his black underwear.
Frattesi’s added-time winner proved decisive in a frantic final, Lautaro Martínez marked his return from injury with his 16th goal at the top of the league, and Inter beat threatened Hellas Verona 2-1 due to relegation, to secure the leadership in the middle of the season in Serie A. .
“I would have done a lot worse, but I didn’t need to get a yellow card for celebrating,” said Frattesi, who came on as a substitute ten minutes before scoring.
The game wasn’t won, though, until a penalty kick 10 minutes into added time from Verona striker Thomas Henry hit the post.
Then it was back to the party, as Inter moved five points clear of Juventus, which climbed into last place at Salernitana on Sunday.
Inter drew in their last match and were knocked out of the Coppa Italia by Bologna at the end of December. The dramatic victory put Simone Inzaghi’s team back on track in their quest for a name and the chance to sew a second star onto their blouse to represent what would be a 20th Italian championship.
Juventus, with 3 stars and a record 36 Serie A titles, is the Italian club that has more than one star.
“The hard-to-win games are the dirtiest, but they’re also the ones that get you to the end,” Frattesi said.
The fit went as planned, with Lautaro completing a quick vertical move.
Marcus Thuram took advantage of a throw-in with his back to leave the ball to Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who sent a diagonal pass to Lautaro. The Argentina international, who missed two games with a left thigh injury, then controlled with his right foot and used the outside of his foot to slot the ball past Verona goalkeeper Lorenzo Montipò.
But Inter may not have taken the lead and Henry equalized seconds after kneeling to redirect a cross in the 74th minute.
Inter striker Marko Arnautovic squandered more opportunities when he blocked a shot and missed a header from close range.
Frattesi, however, regained Inter’s lead when he recovered a rebound from Alessandro Bastoni’s volley that hit the crossbar.
But a foul by Matteo Darmian threatened to make Frattesi’s birthday party unnecessary until Henry sent the resulting penalty over the left post, with a Verona header following that also failed to hit the target.
PENALTY SAVE
Fiorentina’s quest for a Champions League place was hampered by a 1-0 defeat at Sassuolo, where Andrea Pinamonti gave the hosts an early lead.
At half-time, Sassuolo goalkeeper Andrea Consigli saved a penalty taken by Giacomo Bonaventura.
La Viola is in fourth place, one point ahead of Bologna, which drew 1-1 with Genoa on Friday.
In addition, Monza beat Frosinone 3-2 and moved up the ranks; and Lecce and Cagliari drew 1-1.
___
AP Soccer: https://apnews. com/hub/Soccer