In the race for the Italian championship, Napoli took the lead with a win against Lecce. Inter was under pressure and did what it had to do against Verona without much flair.
Simone Inzaghi reshuffled almost the entire Inter squad after the 3-3 draw with FC Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final, even though the match against Hellas was hugely important in the battle for the Italian championship, as Napoli had won in Lecce earlier in the day. Only Bisseck remained from the starting line-up in the Champions League.
The perfect start for Inter
But even with their B team, Inter got off to a perfect start. Asllani converted a handball penalty in the 9th minute to give his side the lead. After that, hardly anything happened. The home team sat back on their lead and Hellas Verona hardly ventured out of their own half despite being behind. There was only one other noteworthy scene in the first half: shortly before the break, Asllani curled a shot from 20 meters just over the bar (44). So the teams went into the break with the score at 1-0.
Not much happening in the second half
The second half was just as uneventful as the first. There was hardly any action in front of goal because Hellas Verona played very cautiously and Inter were content with their narrow lead. It wasn’t until the 65th minute that Duda fired off a long-range shot that went just over the bar, and shortly afterwards Suslov had a shot that ended up in the side netting (67′). But that was about it. The Milanese held on to their 1-0 lead and reduced the gap to league leaders Napoli to three points.
Inter’s highlight of the season awaits on Tuesday (9 p.m.) in the Champions League semi-final second leg at home against FC Barcelona. Hellas Verona will face Lecce at home next Sunday.
