Inter, Fiorentina, Juventus win as Serie A title race hots up

Mauro Icardi hit his eighth goal of the season as Inter Milan edged “tough” Empoli 1-0 to reclaim top spot as a five-way race for the Serie A crown opened up on Wednesday night.

Fiorentina had gone provisional top thanks to a 3-1 win at Palermo where Slovenia international, Josip Ilicic notably struck twice to take his goals tally of the season to nine in 18 games.

But Inter, one of several teams showing they have the tools to unseat four-time consecutive champions Juventus this season, restored their one-point lead thanks to Icardi’s winner on the stroke of half-time.

It was the ninth time this season Inter have won 1-0, but that statistic is unlikely to unnerve coach Roberto Mancini as long as his side keep on winning.

“Empoli are a really tough side at home and (coach, Marco) Giampaolo is doing a great job here. We knew from the start it wouldn’t be easy,” Mancini told Mediaset.

“It’s a good result for us after the winter break. We missed a chance for 2-0 and they had several chances to level because of mistakes we made.”

With Inter, Fiorentina and Juventus all victorious, Napoli were under pressure but stayed in the hunt with a 2-1 win at home to Torino that moved them back up to third place at the expense of Juve.

Between Inter and fifth-placed Roma, there are now just six points.

Inter weathered an early storm at the Castellani stadium, where veteran striker Massimo Maccarone, Riccardo Saponara and Piotr Zielinski were just off target for the hosts in a busy opening period that kept Inter ‘keeper Samir Handanovic on his toes.

On the stroke of half-time Empoli were made to pay for those misses, Icardi pouncing at the near post to beat home ‘keeper Lukasz Skorupski to Ivan Perisic’s weighted delivery.

Remarkably, the Argentinian — who finished tied with veteran Verona striker Luca Toni on top of the league’s scoring charts last season — has only had 12 shots on target all season, with a return of eight goals.

Meanwhile, Juventus consigned their poor start to the campaign to distant memory with a commanding 3-0 win over Verona in Turin that left them fourth, still three points behind Inter and three ahead of Roma, who dropped points in a 3-3 draw away to Chievo.

Massimiliano Allegri’s men have now won eight league games on the trot, and it came with relative ease after Argentina international Dybala put the hosts ahead after eight minutes.

A Leonardo Bonucci header on the stroke of half-time and Simone Zaza’s late goal capped a comprehensive win for the Turin giants.

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