Fiorentina vs Inter: Inter beat Fiorentina to go top of Serie A

• Inter Milan secured a narrow 1-0 victory over Fiorentina at the Stade Artemi Franchi to go top of Serie A
• Lautaro Martinez scored the only goal of the match and took his tally of goals in Serie A to 19

On Sunday, Inter Milan secured a narrow 1-0 victory away at Fiorentina during the Fiorentina vs Inter fixture. Lautaro Martinez scored the only goal of the match that sent the Nerazzurri to the top of Serie A, after initially losing the spot to Juventus.

Fiorentina were awarded a penalty 15 minutes from time after Yann Sommer collided with M’Bala Nzola, but the Inter Milan keeper made up for his mistake by saving Nicolas Gonzalez’s attempt. Prior to Sunday’s game, Fiorentina had gone unbeaten at home in eight league matches.

Fiorentina vs Inter Milan. Photo/ Rocky Mountain Outlook.

The La Viola are aiming for a spot in the UEFA Champions League for the first time since the 2009-10 season and are currently fifth on the standings with 34 points. Meanwhile, Inter are on top of the table with 54 points and are closely followed by Juventus, who are one point behind. However, the Nerazzurri  have a game in hand.

Fiorentina Vs Inter

After Juventus were surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw on Saturday by Empoli, Inter Milan travelled to Fiorentina with the aim of winning to regain the top spot in the table. But things weren’t going to be easy at the Stadio Artemi Franchi, considering Fiorentina’s impressive performance at home turf.

Fiorentina started the game on a high note, putting Inter under pressure in front as the crowd cheered. However, the visitors slowly got into the game and even came close to scoring, with Davide Faraoni forced to make a quick clearance to stop Carlos Augusto from tapping into an empty net.

But Inter eventually took the lead from the resulting corner, thanks to their lethal attacker Lautaro Martinez. The Argentine striker headed Kristjan Asllani’s corner into the near post to spark celebrations at the away end. It was his 19th league goal this season and is firmly at the top of the list of Serie A top scorers.

Marcus Thuram appeared to be on his way to scoring shortly afterwards but tripped on his own while approaching the box to fire. His teammate Davide Frattesi then forced Fiorentina’s goalkeeper Pietro Terracciano into making a superb save to stop the goal from going in. Fiorentina would respond with a fine attack that concluded with Yann Sommer being forced to punch Giacomo Bonaventura’s strike.

As the game approached the half time break, both sides created chances but non materialized. Both teams continued with the attacking spirit after the restart and Marko Arnautovic thought he had increased Inter’s advantage to two in the 66th minute before his goal was ruled out for offside. Henrik Mkhitaryan was in an offside position in the build-up to the goal.

Lautaro Martinez scored the only goal of the match as Inter Milan squeezed past Fiorentina to go top of Serie A. Photo/ Laredo Morning Times.

Fiorentina had the chance to level the scores barely ten minutes later when Sommer fouled M’Bala Nzola in the box. The Inter keeper accidentally pushed Nzola and the referee pointed to the spot.

With the Fiorentina fans finally on their feet waiting to celebrate a goal for the first time in this match, Sommer made up for his mistake by stopping Nicola Gonzalez’s effort from the sport. Even though it was a poor penalty, the goalkeeper, who spent last season on loan at Bayern Munich, will take the credit for saving it.

From there, it was all Inter’s and the home team did very little to make the last minutes of the Fiorentina vs Inter match entertaining. In the end, Inter became the first team to beat Fiorentina at the Stade Artemi Franchi in nine matches. The last time they had lost at home was in early November against Massimiliano Allegri’s Juventus.