Inter may have waved farewell to any lingering Scudetto ambitions after they contrived to draw 3-3 with bottom-of-the-table Verona.
Alarmingly, Roberto Mancini's side were forced to fightback from a two-goal deficit after three set-pieces from the hosts, powered beyond Samir Handanovic by Filip Helander, Eros Pisano and Artur Ionita either side of the interval, threatened to turn a defeat into a ignonimy.
Instead, the Nerazzurri made a fist of proceedings despite taking an early lead through Jeison Murillo. Mauro Icardi halved the deficit on the hour-mark before Ivan Perisic bundled the ball home thirteen minutes from time to salvage a point.
High-octane opening
Inter ought to have taken the lead inside six minutes. Rodrigo Palacio, restored the starting XI for the trip, dovetailed nicely with Mauro Icardi inside the danger area but his left-footed effort was foiled heroically by Pierluigi Gollini before Marcelo Brozovic ballooned his rebound over.
Jeison Murillo, however, took it into his own hands to atone for the Argentine’s miss when powered a header beyond the Verona No.1 a minute later to establish an early Nerazzurri advantage.
But their lead lasted only four minutes as Roberto Mancini’s side contrived to concede from a set-piece for the second consecutive week. Playing the role of Alex was Filip Helander who rose above Geoffrey Kondogbia to head beyond Samir Handanovic and into the bottom corner.
Having been stringent in their defence of set-pieces for much of the season, Inter were yet again undone by a free-kick clipped into the area only minutes later. Luca Marrone spotted the ball and delivered an unerring clip into Eros Pisano who, much like his defensive teammate minutes earlier, arrowed his header into the far corner.
The away side regained their composure thereafter and were inches away from producing the goal of the season. Brozovic picked out Icardi who, after stalling his delivery and finding the Croatian on the edge of the penalty box, stood up a perfect cross but the midfielder’s first-time volley angled wide.
Vangelis Moras was indebted to the vigilance of his goalkeeper on 34 minutes when his insipid header back to goal was almost punished by Icardi.
Brozovic and Icardi had combined earlier to good effect and the latter almost profited from the midfielder’s excellent vision when he was picked out at the far post, though he could not direct his effort towards under the attention of Gollini.
Felipe Melo was fortunate to escape a second booking five minutes before the interval and the Brazilian thwarted a potential third for the hosts when he cleared Luca Toni’s knock-down header to safety before Pisano benefitted.
Palacio sped away from Michelangelo Albertazzi on 52 minutes but the forward’s delivery was too close to Gollini and the home side dealt comfortably with the danger.
Kondogbia then tried his luck from distance but Gollini pawed his effort to safety.
The hosts began the second-half brightly but their endeavour was in vain when they were undone from a corner for the third occasion on the afternoon. Artur Ionita, this time, run unmarked into the six-yard box and bulleted his header past a hapless Handanovic.
Inter fightback
Just as Verona had replied within five minutes of Murillo’s opener in the first-half, Inter, and more specifically Icardi, responded within four of Ionita’s header. A well-worked movement concluded with Ivan Perisic, introduced for the hare-brained Melo, sliding the ball across to the Argentine who lifted his effort over the advancing Gollini.
The Gialloblu shotstopper foiled Palcio on 66 minutes after Brozovic’s deflected effort fell invitingly to the Argentine.
Luigi Del Neri was left exasperated on the sidelines when Juanito Gomez spurned a golden opportunity to seal all three points for his side. Wszolek removed Murillo from the equation with a deft cut-back but the substitute lifted his effort over the crossbar. They would be left to rue that miss when the away side levelled with thirteen minutes to play.
After manufacturing space down the right, Palacio fizzed an enticing delivery across the danger area and, after Icardi had failed to make contact, Perisic stabbed home at the far stick, with Gollini’s momentum taking the ball over the line, to complete the comeback.
Eder, hitherto anonymous, forced Gollini into an expert save on 83 minutes as Inter cranked up the pressure. Jonathan Biabiany was duped by Gilberto at the byline but the substitute’s effort cannoned back of the post. Icardi nodded wide from Yuto Nagatomo's delivery with three minutes remaining.