Inter moved top of Serie A on Tuesday after coming back from a goal down to win 3-1 at Fiorentina and underline their desire to keep hold of the league title.
Simone Inzaghi’s side came away from an intense match against a revitalised Viola in Florence with all three points thanks to second-half strikes from Matteo Darmian, Edin Dzeko and Ivan Perisic which overturned Riccardo Sottil’s opener for the hosts.
The champions are unbeaten in their first five games and sit first with 13 points, one ahead of Napoli who are at Sampdoria on Thursday looking to maintain their 100 percent start to the campaign.
A further two points back are local rivals AC Milan and Atalanta, who won a frenetic match with Sassuolo 2-1 thanks to goals in the first half from Robin Gosens and Davide Zappacosta.
Fiorentina, who finished the game with 10 men after Nicolas Gonzalez was sent off with 11 minutes remaining following two yellow cards in quick succession for dissent, sit sixth on nine points alongside Roma after a painful second defeat of the season.
The win for Inter against Vincenzo Italiano’s intense Fiorentina side was a warning to Serie A’s contenders that they have every intention of going the long haul in the title race.
Earlier Genoa escaped Bologna with a 2-2 draw thanks to a late Domenico Criscito penalty which came almost straight after the hosts thought they had won with a spot-kick of their own.
Criscito slotted home the leveller in the 89th minute after Kevin Bonifazi was penalised for knocking over Yayah Kallon when it looked as though he himself had been pushed.
Bologna coach Sinisa Mihajlovic was sent off amid fierce protests over what he later called a “non-existent penalty” from the home side, who were trying to bounce back from a 6-1 demolition at the hands of Inter at the weekend.
He had thought his team were destined to win when Marko Arnautovic slammed home his penalty five minutes from the end, which came after Aaron Hickey’s drilled opener for the hosts early in the second half and Genoa forward Mattia Destro’s equaliser in the 55th minute.
Bologna are seventh on eight points while Genoa sit 14th on four points.
