Fri, Feb 5, 2021
AP Sports
FLORENCE, Italy (AP) - Inter Milan moved to the top of Serie A after winning at Fiorentina 2-0 on Friday.
Nicolň Barella scored a great first-half opener and Ivan Perišic doubled the lead shortly after the break to hand the Nerazzurri their first win in Florence since 2014.
Inter moved a point above AC Milan, which hosts bottom-placed Crotone on Sunday.
Inter was looking to bounce back from Tuesday's loss to Juventus in the first leg of the Italian Cup semifinals. The second leg is in Turin next week.
Barella curled a brilliant strike into the right side of the net in the 31st minute.
That appeared to spark Fiorentina into life, and shortly after Samir Handanovic pulled off a double save to deny, first, Giacomo Bonaventura, and then Cristiano Biraghi.
Romelu Lukaku could have made it 2-0 on the stroke of halftime but headed Alexis Sanchez's cross badly.
Inter doubled its advantage seven minutes after the interval when Achraf Hakimi cut in from the right and rolled the ball across the area for Perišic to slot in at the far post.
Inter missed a chance to extend its lead when Lukaku had a goal ruled out for offside.
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