Lautaro Martinez rode to Inter Milan’s rescue on Saturday as the Serie A champions fought back from two goals down to force a 2-2 draw at Roma.
With both sides holding perfect records heading into the top-two clash in the capital, it was an early season glimpse of what may well be the Scudetto race this term.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s Roma have arguably been the most impressive team in Italy so far this season, with Donyell Malen’s free-scoring form and a miserly defence giving them four wins from four.
Manu Kone’s double had given Roma a 2-0 lead at half-time but for the second time in a week Cristian Chivu’s side, inspired by Martinez’s brace, showed mettle as the champions fought back from such a deficit.
“There is a lot of positivity in this side, both teams could’ve won it,” Gasperini told DAZN.
“I think we played on level terms… This match must give us confidence going forward.”
Following the announcement earlier in the day of the death of Sandro Mazzola at the age of 83, both sides paid hommage to the former Inter Milan and Italy playmaker prior to kick-off, with the Nerazzurri also sporting black armbands.
Roma raced out of the blocks as Kone sent them ahead with less than six minutes on the clock when he readjusted his body well to rifle home Nahuel Molina’s knockdown.
It was the France midfielder’s first goal of the season as Inter again made a sluggish start that will worry coach Chivu.
The champions had also bounced back from being 2-0 down inside the opening 16 minutes at home to Udinese to emerge 5-3 winners on Monday.
But Inter were not at the races for most of the opening period at the Stadio Olimpico as Paulo Dybala twice threatened to double the hosts’ advantage.
A clever Curtis Jones pass then presented Alessandro Bastoni with a chance at goal seven minutes later, but the Inter defender thrashed the ball against the post from a tight angle.
However, just as Inter slowly seemed to be waking up, Kone had the ball in the net again when he tucked in from close range at the back post on 37 minutes.
His celebrations were initially cut short by the assistant’s flag before VAR intervened and, after a lengthy review, referee Davide Massa pointed to the centre circle as the 25-year-old skipped off in delight after notching the sixth Serie A goal of his career.
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Former Inter defender Chivu delivered some choice words to his charges at half-time, which will “remain between me and the players”, the Romanian said.
“I will focus on the second half, which in terms of attitude, grit and character was remarkable,” Chivu added. “We were up against a great opponent, we know what Roma represent, and it was an entertaining match.”
Inter captain Martinez halved the deficit less than a minute after the interval with a scuffed finish from Marcus Thuram’s pull-back that just crept perfectly into the side netting of Mile Svilar’s far post.
Dutch forward Malen came within a forehead’s breadth of adding to his tally of six goals in the 68th minute with a slick touch and turn in a crowded box, only for his venomous strike to cannon to safety off Inter stopper Josep Martinez’s brow.
Just as the match appeared to be petering out going into the final 10 minutes, a sudden goalmouth scramble saw Svilar make a sharp save before Martinez headed onto the bar under pressure.
Inter, however, managed to recycle the ball and it came back to the Argentine international inside the box and this time he made no mistake as he controlled with his thigh and arrowed a finish past the Serb to ensure the spoils were shared.
Elsewhere, third-placed Cagliari climbed to 12 points courtesy of a 1-0 win at Udinese, while Bologna and Torino played out a 1-1 draw in Emilia-Romagna.
Venezia host Roma’s city rivals Lazio in Saturday’s final match.
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