Milan: Two goals in the final three minutes saw Inter Milan come from behind to beat Fiorentina 4-3 in Serie A.
Romelu Lukaku and Danilo D’Ambrosio scored late to help Inter get its season off to a winning start. Fellow title hopefuls Atalanta and Lazio also won their first matches.
“We do everything to win without having to suffer so much, but the match today immediately got off to a bad start,” D’Ambrosio said. “However, we showed that we can fight and, thanks to the depth and strength of this squad, we turned it around.” Inter finished last season a point behind Juventus, which won a record-extending ninth successive Serie A. The Nerazzurri also lost the Europa League final to Sevilla. That final prompted Inter to receive a delayed start in Serie A.
“The aim this year is to do even better as part of the journey that we’re on,” D’Ambrosio added.
Fiorentina took the lead with less than three minutes on the clock as some woeful Inter defending allowed Christian Kouame to play a one-two with Giacomo Bonaventura on the edge of the six-yard box and tap in. Lautaro Martínez leveled on the stroke of halftime, curling in the ball. Inter took the lead early in the second half. Martínez bamboozled Sofyan Amrabat on the edge of the box and his shot from a tricky angled was turned by Fiorentina defender Federico Ceccherini into his own net. Fiorentina leveled in the 57th with a well-worked counter started and finished by Gaetano Castrovilli.
That was assisted by Franck Ribéry, and the Fiorentina winger was again inspirational six minutes later with a delightful pass to send Federico Chiesa clear.
The youngster lobbed the onrushing Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic. Arturo Vidal and Achraf Hakimi came off the bench to make their Inter debuts and, just as Inter appeared to be heading for defeat, the home side turned the match around. Hakimi knocked on Radja Nainggolan’s ball over the top for Lukaku to side-foot in from close range in the 87th, and D’Ambrosio headed in Alexis Sanchez’s cross following a short corner two minutes later.
Atalanta started this season where it left off the last one by easing past Torino 4-2. Alejandro “Papu” Gomez scored one goal and set up another two.
Atalanta was one of the top teams in the second half of last season, finishing third in Serie A and reaching the quarterfinals of the Champions League. Last season’s top goal-scorer in Serie A got off the mark in his first match as Ciro Immobile helped Lazio win at Cagliari 2-0. (AP)
