L 'Inter ends a mediocre race with a 3-2 win in Milan; Juve loses

MILAN – Inter Milan, hit by the crisis, won Sunday a 3 to 3 victory over the Milanese against AC Milan, in an entertaining Derby Della Madonnina, to get back over his rival in the Series A.

Matias Vecino and Stefan de Vrij scored at the start of each half for Inter and Lautaro Martinez converted a penalty kick from either side of Tiemoue Bakayoko and Mateo Musacchio's Milan goals.

Inter is ranked third, two points behind Milan. The top four qualify for the Champions League next season.

Fifth place, Rome, is four points behind Milan.

The Rossoneri entered the match after a five-game winning streak in the league. Inter, on the other hand, had only won one of its last five games in all competitions, several injured and had not yet been cleared by striker Mauro Icardi. He has not played for more than a month since he was removed from his captain duties in the context of extended contract negotiations.

However, it was the Nerazzurri who took the lead with less than three minutes on the clock. Lautaro led a center coming from Ivan Perisic and Vecino was left indifferent to throw the ball on the roof of the net.

Inter increased their lead six minutes after the break when, after a short bend, De Vrij headed for the center of Matteo Politano.

Milan narrowed the gap six minutes later when Bakayoko scored a goal for his first goal for the Rossoneri, but Inter found his two-goal advantage shortly after Lautaro scored a goal after that the replacement Politano was replaced by Samu Castillejo.

The final was frantic after Musacchio reduced his deficit to 71st, after Inter's goalkeeper Samir Handanovic managed to prevent a goal from Danilo D'Ambrosio.

Milan had two chances virtually eliminated from the line in stoppage time.

FIRST DEFEAT

Without Cristiano Ronaldo, Juventus have lost to their first Serie A defeat of the season after a 2-0 defeat at Genoa on Sunday.

Substitute Stefano Sturaro, who was sold by Juventus in January after a long injury, scored two minutes after leaving the bench for his debut in Genoa and Goran Pandev sealed the result.

This is Juve's first defeat in the league since April, but the Bianconeri still have a decisive advantage at the top of the standings.

Napoli, who ranks second, narrowed the gap to 15 points by conceding a two-goal advantage over Udinese, but went on to win 4-2.

Napoli goaltender David Ospina was hospitalized after playing despite a head injury and then collapsed.

Ronaldo was not even included in Juventus because the 34-year-old had taken a break after the hat-trick against Atletico Madrid, who had seen the Bianconeri close the deficit in the first leg to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Several other players from Juventus were also rested.

After half an hour, Genoa was fined for a handball by Joao Cancelo, but the referee canceled the decision after watching the incident on the monitor at the edge of the field because he had initially escaped from the a player from Genoa.

Paulo Dybala thought he had given Juventus early in the second half, but the goal was rejected.

The goal was finally scored in the 72nd minute by a player who was perhaps the least likely to score when Sturaro escaped from the edge of the box to score his first goal in more than three years.

Pandev drilled in the second run of Genoa, nine minutes from time.

OTHER MATCHES

Atalanta's European hopes were shattered by a 1-1 home draw against club Chievo Verona.

Atalanta slipped to seventh place, six points lower than Milan and tied for points with Lazio, who beat Parma 4-1.

Coach Aurelio Andreazzoli led Empoli to a 2-1 win over struggling compatriot Frosinone in his first management match.

Empoli left the relegation zone, at a point above Bologna, 18th.

___

More football AP: https://apnews.com/apf-Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed.