Soccer Football - Serie A - Inter Milan v Fiorentina - San Siro, Milan, Italy - February 10, 2025 Inter Milan's Lautaro Martinez and Piotr Zielinski with teammates celebrate after the match REUTERS/Daniele Mascolo
MILAN, Italy (Reuters) -Inter Milan secured a 2-1 home win over Fiorentina on Monday, with substitute Marko Arnautovic's second-half header keeping them within striking distance of Serie A leaders Napoli.
The win was a blessing for second-placed Inter, who now have 54 points and have narrowed the gap with Napoli to just one point.
Inter hosted Fiorentina just four days after their previous Serie A clash — the second-shortest gap in league history. Fiorentina completed a 3-0 victory in last Thursday's match, which had been suspended in the 17th minute on December 1 after Fiorentina midfielder Edoardo Bove suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed on the pitch.
Inter controlled much of the match and pressed forward early, creating several chances, with Carlos Augusto and Lautaro Martinez both rattling the woodwork within minutes of each other.
While Inter's attacking prowess was on full display, their momentum briefly stalled when striker Marcus Thuram, who was seen limping for several minutes, was forced off and replaced by Arnautovic.
"We make a lot of sacrifices and we have to show it on the pitch, today we took three important points and we are closer to Napoli but the season is still long," Arnautovic told DAZN.
INTER DOMINANCE
Despite dominating the action, Inter only broke the deadlock thanks to an own goal from Fiorentina's Marin Pongracic, who headed the ball into his own net from a corner in the 28th minute.
The visitors managed to level the score a minute before the break, with Rolando Mandragora converting from the penalty spot after Matteo Darmian handled a cross.
Arnautovic headed Inter back into the lead with a close-range finish off a cross from Augusto, just seven minutes after the restart, securing all three points.
Augusto admitted that the win was important following the poor performance in the previous match at Fiorentina.
"There was anger because in Florence we weren't ourselves, it's normal to be criticised, today we showed our strength again," he said.
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
