Inter’s Serie A title hopes took a massive blow when the defending champions lost 1-0 at home to Roma, giving Napoli the chance to open up a three-point gap at the top when they host Torino later on Sunday.
Inter, who bowed out of the Coppa Italia on Wednesday with a 3-0 semi-final second leg defeat by Milan, suffered their third loss in a week as their treble-bid risks coming apart.
Inter, who need to recover before Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg at Barcelona, are second in the standings, level on 71 points with leaders Napoli while Roma move up to fifth place on 60 points.
Inter began brightly, with Davide Frattesi finding the net but the goal was ruled out for offside and the hosts lost the defender Benjamin Pavard early to injury.
The Roma goalkeeper Mile Svilar was swiftly out of his area to head the ball away with Hakan Calhanoglu chasing down on goal, and following Inter’s early surge the visitors began to take control.
After Kouadio Koné shot wide from just outside the area, Roma took the lead in the 22nd minute. Lorenzo Pellegrini’s effort from outside the box was blocked down in the area but the ball ended up at the feet of Matías Soulé who netted from the edge of the six-yard box. Minutes later, Roma had a chance to double their lead with Pellegrini crossing into the area but Bryan Cristante put his shot wide.
Roma piled forward and the Inter defender Carlos Augusto made a sliding clearance from Angelino’s ball across the goal with Eldor Shomurodov ready to tap-in at the back post, and with Inter rarely threatening the hosts went in behind at the break.
Inter pushed hard in the second half, desperately seeking an equaliser but lacked any real cutting edge close to goal. Calhanoglu drilled just wide from distance, Denzel Dumfries had a header at the back post saved by Svilar and Nicolo Barella fired wide from the edge of the six-yard box.
Goals from Christian Pulisic and Santiago Giménez earned Milan a 2-0 win away at Venezia, to leave the hosts ever closer to relegation despite a battling performance.
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Bochum remain bottom of the Bundesliga after a 1-1 draw with Union Berlin that brought relegation a step closer as its rivals all won. Matus Bero cancelled Benedict Hollerbach’s first-half strike for Union when he equalised on the rebound after Frederik Rönnow saved his penalty.
But it wasn’t enough to lift Bochum off the bottom, after Holstein Kiel and Heidenheim won on Saturday. With three games remaining, Bochum are on 21 points, below Kiel on 22 and Heidenheim on 25.
This story will be updated later on Sunday