Nicolo Barella and Ivan Perisic stopped in each half when Inter Milan moved to the top of Serie A on Friday with a 2-0 victory at Fiorentina. Antonio Conte’s side pulled one clear point from AC Milan to keep the pressure on their home rivals who host Host Crotone on Sunday. Inter bounced back after their semi-final of the Italian Cup, the first leg of the defeat of Juventus at the San Siro. Italian midfielder Barella shook in the opening from distance after half an hour with Achraf Hakimi setting up Perisic for the second seven minutes after the break to give Inter the first league title in Florence. in seven years.
Conte sat out a touchline ban but Inter controlled the game against Fiorentina in 12th place without French midfielder Franck Ribery.
“We’re not thinking of putting pressure on anyone, just our own journey,” Conte’s assistant Cristian Stellini said.
“It wasn’t easy after playing three days ago but we are satisfied, we created a lot of scoring opportunities and our promoters worked well together.”
Fiorentina could thank goalkeeper Bartlomiej Dragowski for key saves, rejecting Barella early, with the Polish international also holding out Hakimi, Perisic and Lautaro Martinez in the second half.
At the other end of the pitch Samir Handanovic from Giacomo Bonaventura and Cristiano Biraghi saved before the break.
“We could have shut it down earlier but those are three important points, we’re there in the first place and that’s what matters,” Perisic said.
“Now let’s go to Turin to win,” the 32-year-old of the Italian Cup semi-final match next week pitted against Juventus.
“We have to play every game like this was the last one, we have no room for error.”
Inter will play Lazio next weekend before a derby clash with Milan on 21 February.
Inspired
Champions Juventus, in fourth place, host Roma in third place on Saturday.
Just behind Napoli in fifth place Genoa are playing with Lazio looking to push the winning streak to six games against Cagliari ‘s side without a league win in 13 attempts.
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