The door to the Serie A top four was wide open, and nobody wanted to walk through.
The teams in third, fourth, and fifth all dropped points on Sunday, with AC Milan and Roma playing to a disappointing 1-1 draw despite any potential winner taking charge of the race for fourth. Krzysztof Piatek scored his first goal for Inter since joining in January, a close-range effort on a cross from Lucas Paqueta after he worked Lorenzo Pellegrini on the by-line.
With Milan up at halftime, the second half kicked off and Roma equalized immediately on a sloppy goal. It started with a cross from Rick Karsdorp that pinged around the box before Milan defender Mateo Musacchio looked to poke the ball clear, but his slide only redirected it on net, and while Gianluigi Donnarumma stopped it, Nicolo Zaniolo charged and popped it into the back of the net.
The draw left things essentially where they started, with Milan a point above Roma in fourth, and the latter sitting barely outside the Champions League places. Roma will be most disappointed with the failure to secure victory, unable to score more despite 17 total shots, including seven on frame. They dominated the attacking numbers, drawing 10 corners to AC Milan’s two.
Elsewhere, second-placed Inter was surprisingly taken down 1-0 at home by 18th-placed Bologna, making Milan and Roma’s failure to secure all three points even more painful. They put just three of their 16 shots on target, and Federico Santander’s 32nd minute header was enough to earn Bologna an enormous result, pulling them within a point of safety.
Udinese and Fiorentina both sandwiched the hour mark with goals in a 1-1 draw that left both sides longing for victory. Fiorentina sits in ninth, but they are just four points back of fourth-placed AC Milan in a crowded Champions League battle, and a win would have lifted them to seventh. Udinese, meanwhile, sits just two points above the drop and could have used the breathing room.
Genoa and Sassuolo also drew 1-1 with first-half goals scored by Filip Djuricic and Antonio Sanabria. Those two teams sit just two mid-table placed apart, although they’re separated by six points.
Finally, SPAL failed to score despite a 25-minute man advantage in a 0-0 draw with Torino. Reported Arsenal target Nicolas N’Koulou was sent off in the 65th minute after earning his second yellow card for essentially ankle-tackling Alberto Paloschi down the right.
