Inter and Atalanta drew 2-2 at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on Saturday evening in Serie A, in an eventful match that saw the visitors comeback from an early Lautaro Martinez goal, then concede a second half equaliser to the defending champions, who also missed a penalty in the closing minutes, before VAR ruled out a La Dea winner.
Inter hit the ground running and were ahead after five minutes, as Lautaro scored his fourth Serie A goal of the season by volleying home yet another precise cross by Niccolo Barella.
Although the hosts were dangerous on the break, Atalanta gradually increased the pressure and found the equaliser on the half-hour mark through a spectacular long-range effort from Ruslan Malinovsky, who beat Samir Handanovic sending the ball at the far post.
After a Stefan De Vrij’s meek finish, Inter were punished by Rafael Toloi, who was the quickest player to pounce on a rebound after Handanovic had saved another Malinovsky shot, completing a first half comeback for La Dea.
The second half began with an early scare for Inter, as Malinovsky hit the inside of the post with a freekick. However, following a triple substitution made by Simone Inzaghi, the Nerazzurri managed to level the score through an easy Edin Dzeko tap-in.
From there began a sensational turn of events, as substitute Federico Dimarco wasted the chance to give Inter the three points as his penalty kick hit the bar, then Atalanta saw a Roberto Piccoli goal disallowed by VAR as a backpass to Handanovic had gone out of play in the build up.
As a result, the Nerazzurri could now fall four points behind Napoli if they beat Cagliari on Sunday, while La Dea failed the chance to move into Serie A’s top four.
