European football: Inter leave it very late to sink Verona in wild finish

Inter’s Davide Frattesi struck in added time to snatch a 2-1 win against Verona, who missed a late penalty, as the hosts moved five points clear in Serie A on Saturday.

Inter opened the scoring through Lautaro Martínez in the 13th minute when Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s pass found the Argentinian forward in the box ahead of defender Josh Doig and he calmly shot low past goalkeeper Lorenzo Montipo into the corner. Martínez had missed the last two games through injury, and his 16th league goal in 17 games sent him further ahead in the scoring charts, with Sassuolo’s Domenico Berardi his closest challenger on nine goals.

Verona equalised in the 74th minute when Thomas Henry – who had only been on the pitch for a minute – got a touch to Ondrej Duda’s cross that beat Inter’s keeper Yann Sommer.

Marko Arnautovic was guilty of missing two chances to restore Inter’s lead and it looked as if they would have to settle for their second consecutive draw. But added time brought plenty of drama as Alessandro Bastoni’s volley hit the crossbar and after Nicolò Barella’s follow-up shot from distance was parried by Montipo, substitute Frattesi pounced to score in the 93rd minute.

Before the restart Verona were reduced to 10 men when Darko Lazovic was shown a red card for saying something to the referee but the visitors still had a chance to equalise from the spot. A foul by Matteo Darmian gave Henry the opportunity to net his second and deny Inter, but his scuffed penalty hit the post and the home side held on for the three points.

“We did what we had prepared, maybe not always very well, but we take these three points with the awareness that we have Juventus behind us and that we have to continue to win games,” Martínez told Inter TV.

The victory means Inter stretch their lead over second-placed Juventus, who travel to bottom side Salernitana on Sunday. Defeat means Verona drop into the relegation zone in 18th spot on 14 points.