Inter Milan Move Within One Point of Leaders Napoli After Narrow Victory over Fiorentina

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Inter Milan closed the gap on Serie A leaders Napoli to just one point with a 2-1 victory over Fiorentina, seeking redemption after their heavy defeat last week. Injured Marcus Thuram was replaced by Marko Arnautovic, who scored his first league goal of the season shortly after the second half began at the San Siro. The win increased the pressure on Napoli, who could only manage a draw against Udinese on Sunday night. Looking ahead, Inter will travel to Turin to face Juventus in a highly anticipated match, with coach Simone Inzaghi hopeful for Thuram's quick recovery. Meanwhile, Napoli faces a tough challenge against fourth-placed Lazio as the race for the title continues to intensify.

Atalanta are not out of the equation as they sit a further four points back in third following a 5-0 hammering of Verona on Saturday.

"We need to show what we're made of on the pitch," said Arnautovic to DAZN.

"Today we got three important points and we're close to Napoli but it's not done, we've got a long season ahead us and we can only think about winning games."

Monday's win was Inter's payback for being soundly beaten 3-0 by Fiorentina on Thursday, when the two teams finished a fixture which was stopped in December for Edoardo Bove's heart attack.

Fiorentina are sixth and three points behind Lazio after a match which threatened to boil over following Marin Pongracic's own goal which gave Inter the lead in the 28th minute.

Inzaghi and opposite number Raffaele Palladino were both booked as Fiorentina raged against the decision to give the corner from which Pongracic diverted into his own net.

The corner was given even though Alessandro Bastoni's cleared cross had clearly come from beyond the touchline, with the Viola first left flummoxed at that call and then a goal down.

"I'm really proud of my players, we held our own against a great team, a team which is going to fight for the title all the way," said Palladino.

"My only regret is that decision on the corner because that sort of thing needs to be handled better."

Inter had been dominant however, and by that point had already hit the woodwork through Lautaro Martinez and Carlos Augusto at two previous corners, while Nicolo Barella went close with an outrageous bicycle kick.

And a big decision did go Fiorentina's way in the 43rd minute when Matteo Darmian inadvertantly handled an inswinging cross and conceded, after a long VAR check, the spot-kick from which Rolando Mandragora levelled the scores.

Inter started the second half exactly as they did the first and were deservedly back in front six minutes after the restart thanks to Arnautovic glancing home Carlos Augusto's floated cross.

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That was enough for Inter who continued to create but failed to make the scoreline match a convincing performance against spirited Fiorentina.

(This story has not been edited by staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)