MILAN: Inter Milan continued the march to their first Serie A title in more than a decade as they beat relegation-threatened Cagliari 1-0 on Sunday.

Defender Matteo Darmian scored the only goal of the match in the 77th minute at the San Siro as Inter found it tougher than expected against a side fighting for Serie A survival.

Coach Antonio Conte ran onto the field to celebrate with his players. The win restored Inter’s 11-point advantage over second-placed AC Milan, who won 3-1 at Parma on Saturday.

“I sprinted to go and hug the boys. I want to share in the joy with them and praise them for an immense effort this past week,” Conte said. “The group knows that my staff and I are ready to fight for them and its right to share these emotions.”

Juventus beat Genoa 3-1 but the nine-time defending champions remained 12 points behind Inter, who are bidding for a first league title since 2010. Atalanta battled to a 3-2 victory over Fiorentina to stay fourth ahead of Napoli who won 2-0 at Sampdoria.

“I keep repeating that there are fewer and fewer games left and each win is worth six points for us, Conte said.“Its not easy to be under constant pressure but were getting used to it. We’ve grown so much in two years, in all aspects.

“We need to keep playing to win, to continue to pedal to the max. We’re not a team that can afford to make any calculations and I like winning too much ... We’re starting to see the finish line but we’re not there yet.”

Cagliari, who were five points from safety, were without first-choice goalkeeper Alessio Cragno after he contracted the coronavirus on Italy duty so Guglielmo Vicario made his Serie A debut.

His first save was a tough one in the 11th minute but he managed to push Christian Eriksen’s powerful attempt out.

Romelu Lukaku set up Alexis Sanchez who thought he had broken the deadlock after quarter of an hour, but the goal was ruled out for offside.

Inter had the best chances but Vicario managed to keep the score goalless while at the other end Samir Handanovic was barely tested.

Stefan de Vrij headed a corner off the bar in the 69th and Inter finally found the breakthrough shortly after.

Conte made a double substitution bringing on Moroccan Achraf Hakimi for Ashley Young after 69 minutes, with Lautaro Martinez replacing Sanchez.

It paid off as Achraf Hakimi played a one-two with Lukaku on the right side of the area before rolling across for Parma loanee Darmian to slide in at the back post and fire in from close range.

On a psychological level we gave an important signal today,” said former Manchester United defender Darmian.

Conte transmits the passion and the desire to win, you can see this on the pitch. Everyone feels they have a role to play.”

JUVE CONSOLIDATE THIRD

Juve are now battling to stay in the Champions League berths with four points separating the second and fifth-placed teams.

Serie A top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo drew a blank to add to his frustration, as the Portuguese star failed to add to his 25 goals this campaign.

It happens to everyone to get angry,” said coach Andrea Pirlo. Cristiano wanted to score at all costs because he’s a champion who wants to stamp his mark on matches.”

Juve got off to the perfect start in Turin when Juan Cuadrado mazed his way into the right side of the area and pulled the ball back for Dejan Kulusevski to curl into the far corner with less than four minutes on the clock.

Ronaldo improbably hit the post from about a yard out in the buildup to Juve’s second goal, in the 22nd.

Federico Chiesa showed a brilliant turn of pace to sprint forward from midfield and force a save from Mattia Perin. Ronaldo turned the rebound onto the left post from almost point-blank range but Alvaro Morata followed up to score.

Gianluca Scamacca headed in to pull a goal back for Genoa four minutes after the break, with Marko Pjaca then missing two quick-fire chances to equalise for the visitors.

Substitute Weston McKennie sealed the win on 70 minutes for a valuable three points before next weekend’s trip to Champions League rivals Atalanta.

Unfortunately, the points lost on the road in games which seemed straightforward on paper have cost us, so we aim to improve,” said Pirlo.

The race for the Champions League spots remained unchanged as the top seven clubs in the standings all won.

Atalanta held on to fourth place, staying two points ahead of Napoli, but not without a struggle despite leading 2-0 at the break thanks to a Duvan Zapata brace in Tuscany.

Zapata headed in the first off a Ruslan Malinovskyi corner after 13 minutes with the Ukrainian providing the cross for the Colombian’s second five minutes before half-time.

But Dusan Vlahovic struck twice in a 10-minute spell either side of the hour to revive Fiorentina before substitute Josip Ilicic scored the winner from the penalty spot following a handball.

Napoli returned to winning ways after their midweek defeat to Juventus with goals from Fabian Ruiz 10 minutes before the break and Victor Osimhen three minutes from time.

Sergej Milinkovic-Savic scored a stoppage-time header to help sixth-placed Lazio win 1-0 at Hellas Verona.

AS Roma sit just behind their city rivals, beating Bologna by the same scoreline after Borja Mayoral scored to end their three-match winless run.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2021