Inter beat Spezia to move top of Serie A / Photo: © AFP
Inter beat Spezia to move top of Serie A
Inter Milan moved top of Serie A on Friday with a 3-1 win at Spezia which lifted the champions into first place above AC Milan.
Inter are a point above their local rivals thanks to Marcel Brozovic's superb first-time finish half an hour into the match on the Italian Riviera, a neat flick from Lautaro Martinez in the 72nd minute and an Alexis Sanchez goal deep in stoppage time.
However Milan will reclaim the summit later on Friday if they beat struggling Genoa at the San Siro.
A third straight win for Simone Inzaghi's side confirmed their revival after a tricky February and March, and left Spezia in 15th, some 11 points above the relegation zone.
Napoli, who host in-form Roma on Monday evening are three points behind Inter in third while Juve are a further four back ahead of their home match with Bologna on Saturday.
Brozovic opened the scoring for the away side with his first league goal of the season, and it was a spectacular effort for the man who makes Inter tick.
The Croatia midfielder met Danilo D'Ambrosio's knockdown with a beautiful left-foot shot which flew past Ivan Provedel and set Inter on the road to victory.
Martin Erlic flashed a header just wide shortly after the break but Inter missed some good chances before Martinez doubled their lead.
The worst miss came in the 49th minute, when the otherwise excellent Ivan Perisic snatched the ball off Edin Dzeko's feet just as the Bosnian was set to slam in the second.
Denzel Dumfries smashed over from close range but Martinez netted his 15th league goal of the season when he met Perisic's inswinging cross and clipped home the second.
Giiulio Maggiore pulled a goal back with a superb shot with two minutes remaining but Sanchez tapped home in the final seconds to make sure of the win to give Inter the temporary lead in Italy's four-way title race.
(P.Toussaint--LPdF)
