Inter saw their run of eight consecutive Serie A victories ended, but only Samir Handanovic saves prevented a depleted Atalanta from taking all three points.
The hosts were depleted by injuries and COVID-19, missing Duvan Zapata, Josip Ilicic, Ruslan Malinovskyi, Joakim Maehle, Hans Hateboer, Rafael Toloi and Robin Gosens, but Remo Freuler returned from suspension. Inter won the Supercoppa Italiana on Wednesday with Alexis Sanchez in the final seconds of extra time to beat Juventus 2-1, so he was promoted to the start with Edin Dzeko, while Hakan Calhanoglu was back after missing the Lazio game with a ban.
Simone Inzaghi’s men were seeking a ninth straight Serie A victory and Inter are now unbeaten against Atalanta since a 4-1 result here in November 2018, managing five draws and two wins.
Luis Muriel’s first touch let him down and Remo Freuler’s shot was blocked by Ivan Perisic, while Edin Dzeko nodded wide after getting away from Merih Demiral.
Yet for all the pressure pinning Inter back into their own half, Atalanta almost conceded in controversial circumstances, as Muriel was clearly tripped and play waved on, Juan Musso flying to fingertip the Alexis Sanchez strike over the bar.
Matteo Pessina’s header was smothered and Mario Pasalic had penalty appeals rejected for a nudge from Perisic.
After the restart, Samir Handanovic had to rush off his line to push the Pessina effort over after a well-worked team move, a desperate save one-on-one using his trailing leg.
Dzeko fired straight at Musso at the near post, then snuck up behind Freuler to put a ball across the face of goal, which Giuseppe Pezzella desperately slid in to stop Matteo Darmian scoring at the back post.
Denzel Dumfries knocked back a Barella cross only for Dzeko to nod over from six yards, then Musso beat away an Arturo Vidal snapshot, Danilo D’Ambrosio firing over as the move continued.
It remained wide open, Pasalic’s header deflected wide at the far post from a Berat Djimsiti cross off the back of Dumfries, then Muriel sprinted away on the counter, forcing a fantastic one-handed Handanovic save at the near post.
Handanovic was again behind a Pasalic strike after a defensive error and D’Ambrosio hit the side-netting from a tight angle.
Atalanta 0-0 Inter
Talking about football bias .”Only handa prevented an inter loss”. But in the other hand only dumbo and dzeko prevented an atalanta loss too. So where is the difference mate??