Torrential rain fails to halt Inter’s pursuit of leader Napoli as it cuts gap to 1 point

MILAN (AP) — Torrential rain and hail posed several problems on Sunday but not to Inter Milan’s pursuit of Serie A leader Napoli.

Amid a thunderstorm and delays, Inter managed a 2-0 win at Torino to cut the gap to Napoli to just one point after Antonio Conte’s side was surprisingly held 2-2 by Genoa.

If Napoli and Inter are still level after the final two rounds there will be a playoff to decide the destination of the league title.

“Undoubtedly there’s disappointment at this moment,” Conte said. “Because we didn’t deserve to draw, to drop points like this.

“But we also have to acknowledge that we had a ‘bonus card’ and we played that tonight, of the seven points that we needed we picked up one, so we have to win the two matches remaining now.”

Inter coach Simone Inzaghi made wholesale changes to his squad following Tuesday’s extraordinary 4-3 victory over Barcelona, after extra time, that sent his team into the Champions League final.

The visitors took the lead in the 14th minute with a fantastic goal as Nicola Zalewski gathered Alessandro Bastoni’s long pass, with his back to goal, before turning his marker to cut inside and curl into the bottom right corner.

Rain, thunder and hail

The heavens then opened in Turin, making play increasingly more difficult, with heavy rain, thunder and hail.

The referee interrupted play shortly before the interval to discuss the situation with the two captains, before resuming to see out the half.

The halftime break lasted 30 minutes rather than the usual 15 before the second period started.

It took Inter less than five minutes to extend its advantage through Kristjan Asllani’s penalty after Mehdi Taremi was brought down by Torino goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic.

Double fumble

Napoli twice fumbled a lead in a surprise result that damaged its title hopes.

Romelu Lukaku and Giacomo Raspadori put Napoli ahead in each half, following precise passes from Scott McTominay.

Genoa’s first equalizer was somewhat fortuitous as Honest Ahanor’s header bounced off the upright and then hit Alex Meret on the thigh to ricochet back into the net – going down as an own-goal by the Napoli goalkeeper.

Johan Vásquez headed in a cross six minutes from time to snatch a point for Genoa and set up an even more tense finale to the season.

Relegation playoff possibility

The fight for Serie A safety could also go down to a playoff match.

Lecce only managed a 1-1 draw at Hellas Verona to move level on points with 18th-placed Empoli.

Verona is also not safe as it is five points above those two.

Elsewhere, already-relegated Monza recorded its first victory since January and only its third of this season, with a 2-1 win at Udinese.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer