At San Siro, where Inter Milan were still carrying the weight of their Champions League meeting with Shakhtar, Sunday’s contest with Fiorentina turned into a late, breathless escape. Cristian Chivu’s side had spent most of the evening attacking David De Gea’s goal without reward, then recovered from Alex Jiménez’s stunning strike to win 2-1 through Marcus Thuram and Piotr Zielinski.
Fiorentina arrived in Milan prepared to defend compactly and break quickly, and for much of the first half that plan held firm. Inter looked short of their usual sharpness early on, moving the ball slowly after their European exertions, although they gradually began to find openings from wide positions.
Thuram produced the home side’s clearest first-half chance in the 35th minute, weaving beyond several defenders before firing across goal from inside the area. De Gea was equal to it. A minute later, the Spanish goalkeeper denied Pio Esposito after Nicolò Barella supplied a cross, setting the pattern for a night in which Fiorentina’s keeper repeatedly frustrated the hosts.
Inter emerged with greater urgency after the interval. Carlos Augusto was a persistent source of danger down the left, delivering a series of testing balls into the box. In the 57th minute, he picked out Thuram again, but De Gea produced another important save to keep the score level.
Then, against the flow of the match, Fiorentina found a spectacular breakthrough. Alex Jiménez struck powerfully from distance in the 66th minute, his right-footed effort giving the visitors a 1-0 lead despite their limited attacking threat until that point.
The goal briefly gave Fiorentina breathing room, but Inter’s response was immediate. Four minutes later, Carlos Augusto came close to an equaliser when his effort, following a Hakan Çalhanoğlu cross-shot, crashed against the crossbar. Chivu’s changes added energy in the final stages as the Milan side continued to press.
De Gea’s resistance was finally broken in the 90th minute. Thuram combined neatly with Diouf before finishing left-footed to level the match, and the French forward remained central to the decisive moment deep into stoppage time. A pull on Thuram in the penalty area brought the referee’s decision, and Zielinski stepped up in the 97th minute to drive his penalty into the top corner.
Inter’s late 2-1 victory reflected their control of an increasingly tense second half, while Fiorentina left the Giuseppe Meazza having let a valuable away win slip away. Thuram supplied the attacking turning point for the hosts, but De Gea’s outstanding display ensured that the final score scarcely told the full story of the pressure he had absorbed.
