Inter had seemed to be flying when taking a 2-0 lead after 12 minutes through Francesco Acerbi and the Lautaro Martinez screamer, but did not count on a Bologna comeback.
The Nerazzurri had Davide Frattesi and Stefano Sensi back on the bench, but Marko Arnautovic was out against his old club. Thiago Motta’s side were on a strong unbeaten run, conceding just four goals, but also had a decimated defence missing Stefan Posch, Jhon Lucumi, Adama Soumaoro and Victor Kristiansen.
Lewis Ferguson drilled inches wide from the edge of the box, but a series of Inter corners paid off when Francesco Acerbi peeled away from Remo Freuler for a glancing header at the near post on Hakan Calhanoglu’s corner.
Moments later it was 2-0, as Lautaro Martinez unleashed an unstoppable screamer into the top corner from a good 25 metres out.
However, Lautaro Martinez then hauled Ferguson down with both hands on a corner, so Bologna were awarded a penalty following the VAR review. Riccardo Orsolini, coming off a hat-trick last week, drilled the spot-kick low into the near bottom corner beyond Yann Sommer’s fingertips.
Sommer then struggled to push Ferguson’s glancing header from an Orsolini free kick away, while Lukasz Skorupski did the same on a Federico Dimarco set play and Benjamin Pavard’s overhead kick whistled wide.
Acerbi made a crucial interception as Joshua Zirkzee slid in to meet the Charalampos Lykogiannis low cross, but Bologna did complete the comeback.
Zirkzee controlled a Ferguson ball over the top, turned and waited for the Inter defenders to make their attempted blocks before smartly disguising the finish into the near bottom corner.
Alexis Sanchez came off the bench and tapped in a low cross from fellow substitute Carlos Augusto, but was clearly offside.
Acerbi nodded just off target from a corner, then Lautaro Martinez’s flick from a corner grazed the far post, while Carlos Augusto stung Skorupski’s gloves.
Bologna also threatened on the counter deep into stoppages, as Sommer rushed off his line to deny El Azzouzi.
Inter 2-2 Bologna
Acerbi 11 (I), Lautaro Martinez 13 (I), Orsolini pen 19 (B), Zirkzee 52 (B)
Player statistic
| Francesco Acerbi (Assist: Hakan Calhanoglu) |
 |
11' | ||
| Lautaro Martínez (Assist: Marcus Thuram) |
|
13' | ||
| 19' |  |
Riccardo Orsolini | ||
| 32' |  |
Dan Ndoye |
| 52' | |
Joshua Zirkzee (Assist: Lewis Ferguson) | ||
| Lautaro Martínez | |
58' | ||
| Alessandro Bastoni | |
90+1' | ||
| 90+3' | |
Sam Beukema | ||
| 90+4' | |
Lewis Ferguson |
Match statistic
