MILAN: Inter Milan left it late midweek to snatch victory against Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League and it left it even later to beat Sampdoria 1-0 in the Serie A on Saturday.

Marcelo Brozovic scored in the fourth minute of stoppage time as tensions ran high during a game in which three goals were disallowed on video review.

Brozovic controlled Ivan Perisic’s cross on his chest before firing it in from a tight angle and the win followed Inter’s 2-1 comeback victory with two goals in the last five minutes against Tottenham on Tuesday.

The win left Inter in seventh place with seven points from five games, five points adrift of leaders Juventus. Sixth placed Sampdoria are also on seven points.

Radja Nainggolan thought he fired Inter in front on the stroke of halftime but it was ruled out after the VAR spotted Mauro Icardi was offside in the build-up, blocking goalkeeper Emil Audero’s view.

Inter had a second goal ruled out three minutes from time as the ball went out of play before Kwadwo Asamoah’s strike.

Moments later, Gregoire Defrel’s goal was ruled out for offside, with the Sampdoria forward having the added disappointment of being booked for taking his shirt off in celebration.

Inter Milan coach Luciano Spalletti, under growing pressure after picking up just one win in four league games, was also banished from the touchline by officials for his wild celebration of the winning goal.

“I turned towards the camera to shout ‘goal’ and the fourth official told me I had done it with too much force,” Spalletti told streaming service DAZN. “It was too important a goal, like a liberation, and they interpreted it as something with too much emotional reaction. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Earlier, Fiorentina moved into second place with an impressive 3-0 win over in-form SPAL in Florence.

SPAL had been riding high in second, three points behind champions Juve, before the tie with just one goal conceded in four games.

But Marko Pjaca opened the scoring after 18 minutes with his first goal for La Viola, before Nikola Milenkovic and Federico Chiesa added strikes either side of the break as Fiorentina climbed two points behind Juve.

Fiorentina are level with Sassuolo, who beat 10-man Empoli 3-1 on Friday but ahead on goal difference.

In the first game of the day, Gervinho scored a stunning goal as Parma beat Cagliari 2-0 to secure back-to-back wins after they shocked Inter at the San Siro last weekend.

The former Arsenal winger brushed off three defenders as he ran the length of the pitch to double his side’s advantage following Roberto Ingleses first-half strike.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2018