Romelu Lukaku came off the bench to keep Inter’s slim Serie A title hopes alive as his late penalty secured a 2-2 draw with Roma.
Antonio Conte s men could have closed the gap on leaders Juventus to three points with victory at Stadio Olimpico but instead had to settle for a draw, which came courtesy of Lukaku s spot-kick following Leonardo Spinazzola s clumsy challenge on Victor Moses.
Inter had earlier squandered an early lead given to them by Stefan de Vrij s 15th-minute header – a Serie A record 500th goal scored in this fixture – as Spinazzola and Henrikh Mkhitaryan turned the game on its head with goals either side of half-time.
However, Inter were handed a reprieve when Spinazzola recklessly kicked out at Moses four minutes from time – Lukaku keeping his composure to salvage a point.
13 Romelu is the 1st player to score 13 goals on the road in his first season in Serie A’s history. Unbelievable.
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo)
Gianluca Mancini
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missed an opportunity to open the scoring early on, and Roma were punished when De Vrij got away from Aleksandar Kolarov to head in Alexis Sanchez s corner.
But with Marcelo Brozovic squandering a chance to double Inter s lead, Spinazzola drilled in an equaliser in first-half stoppage time – the goal allowed to stand after a VAR check for Kolarov s nudge on Lautaro Martinez in the build-up.
A pivotal three-minute spell shortly before the hour saw the game swing in Roma s favour as Martinez s strike was ruled out for offside, with Mkhitaryan then profiting from slack defending to hit home from six yards.
As Inter s hopes of keeping the pressure on Juve faded, Conte turned to Moses and Lukaku from the bench and they proved to be inspired changes – the latter scoring from the spot after his fellow substitute was fouled by Spinazzola.
What does it mean? Inter fail to capitalise on Juve s slip-ups
Juventus have drawn two and lost one of their last three matches, opening the door for Inter to pounce in their pursuit of a first Scudetto since 2010.
However, a third win in a row eluded them and in the end they were fortunate to claim a point, meaning Juve can now open up an eight-point gap at the summit with four matches to go if they beat Lazio in Monday s game in hand.
Lukaku the saviour for Inter
Sanchez tried his best to carry Inter s attack, the on-loan forward registering his seventh assist since last month s restart for De Vrij s opener – only Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi – has managed more in Europe s top five leagues, but the visitors struggled to get going from that point on and in the end they needed Lukaku to rescue a result.
Spinazzola s moment of madness
Even with Lukkau on, Inter looked devoid of ideas, but they were gifted a penalty thanks to Spinazzola s comical defending. The Roma wing-back failed to control the ball with a bad first touch and then caught Moses on the leg when attempting to hoof it clear.
What s next?
Roma return to action with a trip to already-relegated SPAL on Wednesday, the same day that Inter host mid-table Fiorentina in their penultimate home game of the campaign.
