MILAN: Inter Milan’s title hopes were given a boost on Saturday as the Serie A leaders won and rivals AC Milan and Juventus both dropped points.

Romelu Lukaku set Inter on their way to a 1-0 win at Bologna at the end of a packed day of Serie A action that saw Milan held 1-1 at home by 10-man Sampdoria and Juventus draw 2-2 at Torino in the derby.

Inter moved eight points above second-placed Milan who have also played a match more than their city rivals. Atalanta moved into third, while Juventus slipped to fourth. All 10 Serie A matches took place on the same day due to Easter Sunday.

“They weren’t title celebrations after because first we need to win it mathematically,” Inter coach Antonio Conte said. “Of course were seeing it from closer up, others from further away but there is still a long way to go. It’s inevitable that the closer you get to the end, the more every victory becomes important.”

Inter took the lead in the 32nd minute with their first real chance. Alessandro Bastoni whipped in a cross from the left and Lukaku’s header was brilliantly pushed onto the post by Bologna goalkeeper Nicola Ravaglia but the Inter forward tapped in the rebound.

Lautaro Martinez missed a chance for a second five minutes after the break when he rattled the post.

We took a big step and need to continue down this road,” Lukaku said. “It’s a great moment for me; I made the right decision coming here. I’ll do everything I can to help the team because I’m nobody without my team-mates. The group is the most important thing. We have our aim and need to keep this up.”

Inter next play Sassuolo on Wednesday, a match postponed from before the international break because of a Covid-19 outbreak in the Milan club.

Jens Petter Hauge salvaged a point for Milan three minutes from time and the Rossoneri almost snatched all three points but Franck Kessie’s effort came off the post.

Fabio Quagliarella had scored in the 57th minute following a horrendous Milan error. The veteran forward intercepted Theo Hernandez’s square pass and took one touch before lobbing the ball over Gianluigi Donnarumma from distance.

Samp’s good work was undone by an error by one of their own moments later. Adrien Silva was already on a yellow card and he went lunging into Samu Castillejo, so was promptly booked again and sent off.

Milan struggled to carve out genuine scoring opportunities but the equaliser eventually came when Hauge controlled a pass from Kessie before curling into the bottom right corner.

Kessie struck the left post in stoppage time following Zlatan Ibrahimovi’s throughball.

There are no excuses,” said coach Stefano Pioli, whose team’s push for a first league title in a decade has been hampered by just two wins from eight home games in the league in 2021. Inter have the Scudetto [league title] in their hands. It’s theirs to lose.”

In Turin, Cristiano Ronaldo struck in the 79th minute but couldn’t stop Juve dropping further points in their bid for a 10th consecutive league title.

Andrea Pirlo’s side slip to fourth, 12 points behind Inter, and four points back from Milan, with a game in hand.

We complicate these games all by ourselves,” lamented Pirlo with his team’s Champions League qualification also in the balance.

The Bianconeri were without Leonardo Bonucci and Merih Demiral, who contracted the coronavirus on international duty. Weston McKennie, Paulo Dybala and Arthur Melo were also out of the squad after violating coronavirus restrictions with a party at the American midfielder’s house.

Federico Chiesa had given Juventus the advantage in the 13th minute, but an Antonio Sanabria brace looked set to give the relegation-threatened hosts their first derby win in six years.

The Paraguayan nodded in the leveller in the 27th minute after Juve keeper Wojciech Szczesny had pushed out a long-range Rolando Mandragora effort.

Sanabria struck a second time just after the break when he intercepted a misplaced Dejan Kulusevksi back pass.

Ronaldo missed two chances before the Serie A top scorer finally got his 24th league goal this campaign following a VAR review when he nodded home Giorgio Chiellini’s cross from close range.

We must push on, keep giving our all and try to secure our minimum target, which is qualifying for the Champions League,” said captain Chiellini.

We have another important match on Wednesday and it’s one we need to win,” he added of their midweek postponed fixture against European rivals Napoli with the two sides level on points.

Luis Muriel scored twice in the first half to set Atalanta on their way to a 3-2 win over Udinese.

Roberto Pereyra got Udinese back into the match on the stroke of halftime but Duvan Zapata restored Atalanta’s two-goal advantage in the 71st.

Udinese’s Jens Stryger Larsen scored 10 minutes later to set up a nervy finale.

Atalanta are two points below Milan and two above Juventus and Napoli, who claimed their fourth consecutive win, but not without a battle from bottom side Crotone who lost a dramatic contest 4-3.

Three goals in 33 minutes from Lorenzo Insigne, Victor Osimhen and Dries Mertens looked to have sealed victory early for Gennaro Gattuso’s side.

However Crotone fought back to 3-3 largely thanks to a double from Nigerian Simy the 25th and 48th minutes.

But Giovanni Di Lorenzo made sure the home side did take the win with his 72nd-minute strike.

Lazio are four points below fourth spot and the final Champions League qualifying berth after a 2-1 win at Spezia. Lazio players Manuel Lazzari and Joaquin Correa were sent off in stoppage time in separate incidents.

Roma dropped to seventh after stretching their winless run to a three matches with a 2-2 stalemate at Sassuolo.

Also, relegation-threatened Cagliari lost 2-0 at home to Hellas Verona. Benevento drew 2-2 against Parma and Fiorentina drew 1-1 at Genoa.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2021