Inter left it to the 90th minute to overturn a Thomas Henry opener from decimated Venezia, as a contested Nicolò Barella equaliser and last-gasp Edin Dzeko header sealed the very hard-fought victory.
The Nerazzurri saw their eight-game Serie A winning streak ended by a 0-0 draw away to Atalanta, but remained clear at the top of the table. Joaquin Correa was ruled out for at least a month, so Lautaro Martinez partnered Edin Dzeko. Venezia had eight players out with COVID-19, just one shy of the cut-off point to suspend the match, along with coach Paolo Zanetti.
Between COVID, injuries and international duty, the Lagunari were missing Sergio Romero, Michael Svoboda, Ridgeciano Haps, Pasquale Mazzocchi, Tyronne Ebuehi, Gianluca Busio, Domen Crnigoj, Daam Heymans, Mattia Aramu and Dennis Johnsen. Inter wore shirts with Chinese lettering to mark Chinese New Year.
Dzeko’s early volley tested Luca Lezzerini at the far post, though David Okereke forced a save from distance with his counter-attack too.
Totally against the run of play, Venezia took the lead when Ethan Ampadu whipped a cross to the back stick for the towering Thomas Henry header off the underside of the crossbar.
However, Venezia then lost Antonio Vacca Junior to a hamstring strain, but Maximillian Ullmann made an impressive debut, getting Nicolò Barella booked during a forward run.
Lautaro Martinez turned over with an acrobatic overhead kick, but the pressure finally paid off when Matteo Darmian crossed for Ivan Perisic’s volley, Luca Lezzerini saved one-handed, but could do nothing on the Barella follow-up. Venezia were furious, but a VAR check on the potential Dzeko foul in the build-up was given the all-clear, despite the rather large bruise on Marco Modolo’s cheekbone. VAR could not intervene because a Venezia player had the ball after that, so it was a different move.
After the restart, Hakan Calhanoglu’s cross only grazed the head of Dzeko, allowing Lezzerini to smother. A free kick was flicked on by Stefan de Vrij for Lezzerini to spill, but Dzeko dived in and turned over from a couple of yards before colliding with the goalkeeper.
It was a siege on the Venezia goal, yet David Okereke threatened on the counter, his ferocious angled drive beaten away.
Lezzerini parried a powerful Federico Dimarco free kick at the far bottom corner, but the turnaround finally arrived in the last minute. Denzel Dumfries came off the bench and floated a cross for the head of Dzeko from six yards into the far bottom corner.
Arturo Vidal threatened a third in stoppages, denied by Lezzerini on an Alexis Sanchez assist.
Inter 2-1 Venezia
Henry 19 (V), Barella 40 (I), Dzeko 90 (I)