Inter missed the chance to move to the Serie A summit after falling to Francisco Conceicao’s 74th-minute winner in Turin.
Inter missed the chance to go top of Serie A as Francisco Conceicao produced the late winner in Sunday’s 1-0 win for Juventus in Turin.
The Portugal winger sparked jubilation inside the Allianz Stadium after combining with Randal Kolo Muani, whose smart footwork allowed Conceicao to fire home the 74th-minute winner.
Simone Inzaghi’s side failed to capitalise on Napoli being held to a 2-2 draw at Lazio on Saturday, leaving them two points off the leaders with 54 points, eight more than fourth-placed Juve.
Inter quickly got into their stride with Mehdi Taremi’s bicycle kick saved by Michele Di Gregorio before Denzel Dumfries lashed over the crossbar.
Juve responded with Nico Gonzalez forcing Yann Sommer into a fine double stop, first to thwart a long-range effort and then to deny Conceicao from the rebound.
Both sides continued to attack in the second half but it was Conceicao who finally broke Inter’s resistance, with Kolo Muani spinning away from three defenders before teeing up his team-mate’s cool, left-footed finish.
Teun Koopmeiners could have added a late second but saw his effort blocked by a combination of Sommer and Dumfries on the line, though that mattered for little as the title race once again took another turn.
- Away struggles threaten to derail Inter’s title hopes
Inzaghi will know his side need to improve on the road after Inter fell to back-to-back away defeats in Serie A for the first time since February and March 2023, against Bologna and Spezia.
This result may have been expected, however, considering Juventus are the only team unbeaten at home in the competition this season, albeit seven of those have been drawn with six wins added in.
Thiago Motta’s side have also now won three straight league games for the first time this season, while they have managed three straight wins with clean sheets for the first time in a single Serie A campaign since a five-game run between December 2023 and January 2024.
Inzaghi may have felt Conceicao’s late winner was harsh, though, given Inter accumulated 1.94 expected goals (xG) to Juve’s 1.16, suggesting the away side had better chances.
However, Motta’s side will have been content to soak up pressure, having built their success on their defence this campaign, with no Serie A team managing more than Juve’s 12 clean sheets in the 2024-25 season.
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