Inter may well have thrown the Scudetto away with this shock defeat in Bologna, gifted by a howler from goalkeeper Ionut Radu that sends Milan two points clear at the top.
This was a rescheduled Week 20 fixture from January 6 due to a COVID-19 outbreak in the Rossoblu squad. Robin Gosens, Arturo Vidal and Felipe Caicedo didn’t make the trip, while Samir Handanovic and Alessandro Bastoni were late additions to the injury list, so Ionut Radu got his second appearance of the season, the other being a Coppa Italia 3-2 extra time win over Empoli in January. Marko Arnautovic, Adama Soumaoro and Gary Medel returned from suspension, the Chilean winning his appeal to get the two-match ban halved.
A win here would put Inter top of the table and they had the ideal start, as within four minutes Ivan Perisic nutmegged Musa Barrow and hit an unstoppable screamer into the near top corner from the edge of the box.
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Federico Dimarco stung Lukasz Skorupski’s gloves, but Bologna got back on level terms when Arnautovic out-leaped everyone to nod a Barrow cross into the far bottom corner.
Denzel Dumfries turned a header over the bar from Perisic’s cross, while after the restart Skorupski made a decisive save on Joaquin Correa’s header from the corner.
Inter needed to win in order to recapture top spot, so moved to a 3-4-3 formation on the hour mark. This left them open at the back, Milan Skriniar making a last-ditch tackle on Arnautovic as he had already beaten Marcelo Brozovic.
Lautaro Martinez’s header from a corner was over the bar, but just as Inter were pushing for the winner, their emergency goalkeeper gifted Bologna a goal instead.
It was a throw-in, Radu went to control with his feet and essentially kicked it back towards his goal, at least denied the own goal on his record by Nicola Sansone getting the tap-in from a yard.
Inter fought back with desperation, Danilo D’Ambrosio’s attempt cleared off the line from close range, but their heads visibly dropped.
Bologna 2-1 Inter
Perisic 4 (I), Arnautovic 29 (B), Sansone 81 (B)