Inter Milan move to within 1 point of Serie A leader with win

MILAN: Defending Serie A champion Inter Milan moved to within one point of league leader and city rival AC Milan with a 2-0 win against Hellas Verona on Saturday.

Ivan Perišic set up both first-half goals for Nicolò Barella and Edin Džeko.

Both Milan teams have played the same number of games as Inter still has to play a postponed match against Bologna.

Inter was buoyed by a 1-0 win at Juventus last weekend but without its top scorer against Verona as Lautaro Martínez was suspended.

Perišic almost scored in the 18th minute but Verona goalkeeper Lorenzo Montipò pulled off a fantastic save to deny the Inter forward.

However, the Croatia international set up the opener four minutes later as he raced down the left flank from the halfway line and crossed for Barella to fire into the roof of the net.

Inter doubled its lead in the 30th minute when Perišic headed on a corner for Džeko to drive into the bottom left corner.

It was the 36-year-old Džeko's 17th goal of the season in all competitions.

Empoli and Spezia moved further away from the bottom three with a 0-0 draw.

Empoli goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario and his Spezia counterpart, Ivan Provedel, pulled off a number of good saves to keep the scoreline goalless.

Spezia was 11 points ahead of the relegation zone, and one point below Empoli. Agencies

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