Match report
We’ll have a full match report soon, but that’s it from me. That was quite the game. Juve won it, then threw it away, and then won it all over again in the last five minutes, having shown no sign of being capable in the 20 minutes prior. As the old saying goes, that’s why they’re champions.
Napoli now have to take on Fiorentina, having been through the ringer tonight. There will surely still be twists and turns but Juve have wrestled the advantage back in dramatic fashion. Thanks for joining me, and arrivederci.
What it all means is that Juve are four points clear of Napoli, who have a game in hand. Here are both teams’ remaining fixtures:
Juventus: Bologna (H), Roma (A), Verona (H).
Napoli: Fiorentina (A), Torino (H), Sampdoria (A), Crotone (H).
So, to recap:
Half-time: Inter 0-1 Juventus; Inter down to 10 men
65 mins: Inter 2-1 Juventus
87 mins: Inter 2-2 Juventus
89 mins: Inter 2-3 Juventus
Calcio, bloody hell, and so on.
Full time: Inter 2-3 Juventus
Juve have held on, and extend their lead to four points, after a frankly unbelievable second half.
94 mins: Another chance for Inter! Perisic is unmarked from a deep cross, but skews his header well wide. On the bench, Mauro Icardi looks beside himself.
93 mins: Eek, a nervous moment for Buffon as he fumbles Brozovic’s shot. Miranda, stationed upfield, mis-hits the follow up from a tight angle. Two more minutes for Juve to hold on.
91 mins: The air has been well and truly sucked out of the San Siro, and Higuain should probably have a penalty as Skriniar clatters him in the penalty area. Yann Karamoh is coming on for Inter.
Good grief! Brozovic gave away a free kick 25 yards out, which Dybala curled brilliantly into the danger area. Higuain – who else – got away from Santon, and nods Juventus ahead!
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GOAL! Inter 2-3 Juventus (Higuain 89')
How on earth have they done this? Juve are back in front!
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GOAL! Inter 2-2 Juventus (Skriniar OG 86')
...But it’s not over yet! Cuadrado bursts past Santon and his cross deflects off Skriniar and inside the far post!
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85 mins: Costa hauls down D’Ambrosio and Inter can clear their lines. Juventus running out of time...
84 mins: Change for Inter, with Davide Santon, once of Newcastle United, replacing Icardi.
83 mins: Cuadrado prods the ball into the path of Higuain, who rushes his shot from 18 yards out.
82 mins: Still nothing doing for Juve going forward, with Inter now camped around their own area.
79 mins: A final change for Juve, with Rodrigo Bentacur replacing Pjanic, who should have been sent off. Inter make a change too – Borja Valero replaces Rafinha in midfield.
77 mins: Alex Sandro is booked for hauling down Rafinha, who has been a big factor in Inter turning this game around.
76 mins: Juve win a series of corners, before Bernadeschi’s cross is cleared away. Inter break away and Candreva pulls the ball back across goal – but Icardi can’t get a toe on it!
74 mins: What a save! Dybala bends a terrific effort towards the far corner but Handanovic springs to his right to turn it over the bar!
73 mins: Brozovic barges Cuadrado over on the edge of the area, and is booked. Promising free kick for Juve...
71 mins: Giorgio Chiellini is on the bench, and has taken it upon himself to cajole his team-mates from the touchline.
70 mins: Costa forces Handanovic to turn the ball behind with a shot from a tight angle. The corner is wasted.
69 mins: Just over 20 minutes for Juve to turn this around – they still have a man advantage, but can’t get anything going in attack.
67 mins: Bernardeschi is on in place of Mandzukic. I don’t know what Max Allegri said at half-time, but it hasn’t panned out as hoped.
Perisic turned Cuadrado inside out down the left flank, then drilled in a low cross that cannoned in off Barzagli’s shins. Are you watching, Napoli?
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GOAL! Inter 2-1 Juventus (Barzagli own goal 65')
Juventus are falling apart here!
No translation necessary...
Pjanic encore sur le terrain?
— Philippe Auclair (@PhilippeAuclair) April 28, 2018
Comment est-ce possible?
63 mins: What a miss! Higuain is set free by a brilliant Sandro through ball, and goes round Handanovic – but fires his shot into the side netting! Oh Gonzalo!
62 mins: Dybala comes on for Sami Khedira, with Max Allegri going all guns blazing.
60 mins: Juventus have got themselves in a right mess here.
59 mins: Rafinha curls a shot from the edge of the area, but Buffon is right behind it.
57 mins: Pjanic brings Rafinha down with a very clumsy, very high tackle. He’s been booked – and the referee has his card out... but books D’Ambrosio for dissent. Pjanic is a lucky, lucky boy.
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55 mins: Sandro brings down Cancelo, who has rallied from his role in the opening Juventus goal. Paulo Dybala is going to be coming on shortly.
That goal was greeted with an almighty roar around the ground (and, I’ll wager, in Naples). A point isn’t great for Inter’s top-four ambitions but they would love it, love it if they could dent Juve’s title hopes.
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GOAL! Inter 1-1 Juventus (Icardi 52')
Hold on a minute! The free kick is floated in beautifully by Joao Cancelo and Mauro Icardi nods into the bottom corner!
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51 mins: Another booking for Juventus, with Mandzukic bringing Skriniar down midway inside the Inter half.
49 mins: Errors all over the place from Juventus: Sandro mis-hits a cross, then Cuadrado misplaces a pass in midfield.
47 mins: Higuain holds the ball up and it’s worked back to Matuidi, whose loose touch allows Skriniar to intercept. He’s a big, bustling centre-back, is Skriniar – he’ll surely be of interest to Premier League sides.
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Half time: Inter 0-1 Juventus
Douglas Costa’s early goal and Matías Vecino’s red card for Inter immediately afterwards have put Juventus firmly in the driving seat. More soon.
Goal disallowed for Juventus! The visitors break and a mis-hit cross bobbles beyond Khedira and Higuain, but lands at the feet of Blaise Matuidi, who turns it in. He looks a mile offside though, and the VAR chalks it off.
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49 mins: Candreva adds to the first-half montage of dreadful shots from 25 yards out.
48 mins: There are still hints of vulnerability in this Juventus back line – Rugani the latest to suffer a lapse of concentration – but Inter haven’t been able to test them yet.
46 mins: Brozovic takes the free kick, clipping it off the wall without any venom. Inter win a corner, but it comes to nothing.
45 mins: There will be 6 (SIX) minutes of added time.
44 mins: Icardi leaves Barzagli horribly exposed, nicking the ball away from the centre-back some 25 yards from goal. He’s hacked down, and Barzagli joins Pjanic and Cuadrado in the book.
42 mins: The visitors are pinging the ball around the Inter half, before Cuadrado fires an ambitious effort miles over the bar.
40 mins: Juve win a corner and work it short, Costa whipping the ball across goal with his left foot – but Matuidi can only head over.
38 mins: This is less a game of football and more a series of scraps. First, Perisic goes over easily in the hope of getting Cuadrado a second yellow. Then Candreva trips Mandzukic, provoking an angry reaction from the Croat. The mutual emnity is keeping this game interesting.
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36 mins: Gonzalo Higuain is off the pitch, changing his boots.
34 mins: Cancelo is obstructed by Alex Sandro as he moves to swing the ball into the area, but nothing’s given. Inter players and fans are livid, and the full-back stays down.
31 mins: Another low-tempo Juve attack comes to nothing as Higuain’s through ball has too much zip for the cantering Mandzukic.
29 mins: Woof! From nowhere, we almost had one of the goals of the season here. Candreva, more than 30 yards out, took a swing for the top corner – it swerved and dipped, forcing Buffon to tip the ball awkwardly around the post.
28 mins: Higuain is picked out in the area by Alex Sandro, but uses his hand to bring the ball down.
27 mins: Rafinha, dropping into a deeper midfield role, is fouled by Pjanic – prompting howls from the home crowd. No second yellow for the Juve midfielder, and rightly so.
25 mins: Icardi threads a pass out wide to Perisic, who can take on Cuadrado. He carves out space, but then opts for a wild effort on goal that’s greeted with whistles from the home crowd.
23 mins: Inter are having to sit deep to contain Juventus, who are keen to build on their favourable circumstances. Costa cuts in from the right, but thwacks his shot a couple of feet wide.
20 mins: Pjanic, who curled the free-kick wide, goes into the book himself. It’s been a lively first 20 minutes.
19 mins: Vecino and his team-mates reacted with predictable fury but it was a bad challenge with more than a hint of malice, the midfielder bringing his studs down on Mandzukic’s shin as they clashed.
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Red card! Matías Vecino is sent off for Inter!
After another look at the pitchside monitor, referee Daniele Orsato sends Vecino off! That decision goes down as well as you might expect at the San Siro.
16 mins: Vecino lunges in on Mandzukic straight from kick-off. and is promptly booked. The referee is going to have another look though – will the yellow turn red?
15 mins: The goal was checked with the VAR after Inter protested an offside – or perhaps a handball. Looked fine to me.
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GOAL! Inter 0-1 Juventus (Douglas Costa 13')
The corner is half-cleared, but only as far as Cuadrado, who stands up a cross that floats over the back four and lands at the feet of Douglas Costa. He takes a touch and fires brilliantly across goal. Juve lead!
12 mins: Chance for Juve, as Mandzukic nods a cross from deep back across goal, and only a last-ditch intervention from Skriniar denied Higuain a tap-in. Corner...
9 mins: Perisic squanders a decent angle from which to whip the ball in towards Icardi. The real action is in the stands, with Inter fans unveiling a dazzling array of insulting banners – this one chronicles Juve’s losses in European Cup finals:
7 mins: Tony Dorigo is on co-comms. Not much else to report.
5 mins: Perisic threatens to scoot away on the break, and makeshift right-back Juan Cuadrado clatters him to the floor. He’s booked.
4 mins: Candreva concedes a corner with an outrageously slack back-pass. It’s worked short before Cuadrado whips in a cross that’s flicked clear of danger by an Inter head.
2 mins: Milan Skriniar puts in a sturdy challenge on Blaise Matuidi, who had threatened to break into the area from the left.
We're off!
The visiting back four, which is completely different from the one that lost to Napoli, stroke the ball around.
The teams are out in front of a raucous crowd at the San Siro, with tifos and trumpets galore.
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As it happens, there’s drama wherever you look in Serie A. The stakes are plenty high for Inter tonight, too – with Italy getting four Champions League places again from next season, they’re in a battle with Roma and Lazio to finish in the top four. Roma are up to third after a 4-1 win over Chievo earlier today – a result that would, of course, also do quite nicely for them this Wednesday.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juventus | 34 | 58 | 85 |
| 2 | Napoli | 34 | 48 | 84 |
| 3 | Roma | 35 | 31 | 70 |
| 4 | Lazio | 34 | 40 | 67 |
| 5 | Inter Milan | 34 | 33 | 66 |
Defeat for Chievo leaves them very much in the relegation mix with Spal and Crotone – and Gazzetta era favourites Cagliari and Udinese could still get sucked in.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | Chievo | 35 | -26 | 31 |
| 17 | Crotone | 34 | -27 | 31 |
| 18 | SPAL | 34 | -25 | 29 |
| 19 | Verona | 34 | -41 | 25 |
| 20 | Benevento | 34 | -49 | 17 |
Team news
Internazionale (4-2-3-1): Handanovic; João Cancelo, Skriniar, Miranda, D’Ambrosio; Vecino, Brozovic; Candreva, Rafinha, Perisic; Icardi.
Subs: Padelli Berni, Lisandro, Ranocchia, Karamoh, Borja Valero, Santon, Éder, Dalbert, Pinamonti.
Juventus (4-3-3): Buffon; Cuadrado, Barzagli, Rugani, Alex Sandro; Khedira, Pjanic, Matuidi; Douglas Costa, Higuaín, Mandzukic.
Subs: Pinsoglio, Szczesny, Chiellini, Benatia, Howedes, Lichtsteiner, Asamoah, Bentancur, Marchisio, Bernardeschi, Dybala.
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Preamble
If you’re looking for a proper title race among the big leagues, Italy is the only place to be. It was only nine days ago that the scudetto battle looked set to end with a whimper, with Juventus on course to open up a nine-point lead over Napoli.
Then, a shock Crotone equaliser and a stirring comeback in Naples shifted the momentum ahead of a crunch meeting in Turin. Juve aimed to grind out a goalless draw and preserve their four-point lead, but Kalidou Koulibaly had other ideas, powering home a late header fierce enough to crack open any title race.
Which brings us to tonight. Juve are still a point ahead, and four wins from their last four games will seal a seventh straight title and deny Napoli their first in 28 years. The trouble is, two of those games are away to sides battling for a Champions League spot – tonight at Inter, and at Roma in two weeks’ time.
Inter have struggled for wins in 2018, but a doughty 0-0 draw won’t do for the visitors tonight. What’s the Italian for squeaky bum time? Kick-off is at 7.45pm BST, 8.45pm local.
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