ROME – Honours even at the Stadio Olimpico as Inter head back to Milan with just the one point after a hard-fought 1-1 draw in Rome.
Ivan Perisic gave the Nerazzurri the lead early in the second half and it looked for a while that Roberto Mancini's men might sneak the victory until Radja Nainggolan restored parity in the 84th minute.
Inter had to do without attacking threats Mauro Icardi, Stevan Jovetic and the suspended Rodrigo Palacio, while Geoffrey Kondogbia was ruled out shortly before the warm-up. Mancini opted to play Jonathan Biabiany and Ivan Perisic on the wings, while Adem Ljajic was deployed in a free role behind Eder. Samir Handanovic took up his usual position between the sticks behind a back-four of Danilo D'Ambrosio, Miranda, Jeison Murillo and Yuto Nagatomo.
The first chance of the game fell to the Giallorossi. In the third minute, Stephan El Shaarawy laid it off for Diego Perotti to hit a first-time shot that he couldn't keep from sailing over. Inter reacted with a Jonathan Biabiany cross that found Ivan Perisic at the far post, but Alessandro Florenzi managed to block the resulting volley.
The Nerazzurri had to wait fifteen minutes for another decent opening: Adem Ljajic picked up the ball and dummied to shoot, slipping it into Perisic's path instead. The Croat fired a cross-shot into the danger area, only for Kostas Manolas to step in and save his side.
Inter were upping the pressure and their best opportunities came from the left flank. In the 28th minute, the ever-dangerous Perisic cut in from the wing, worked himself some room and shot narrowly over.
The Giallorossi had the ball in the net with ten minutes to play in the first half, but the linesman had already flagged up for offside as Mohamed Salah broke free and lifted it over Handanovic. Inter's No.1 was called into action once more before half-time, showing superb reflexes to dive low and bat away El Shaarawy's powerful volley.
There were no changes to either side at half-time and both teams created decent chances at the beginning of the second 45. It took until the 53rd minute for the deadlock to be broken.
Inter were pressing high up the pitch, with Gary Medel and Ljajic hunting in packs to regain possession. The Serbian played a ball forward to Brozovic, who himself played a first-time pass for Perisic to gather in his stride. Perisic took one touch before firing across Wojciech Szczesny in goal and into the net.
The goal provoked Luciano Spalletti into a change and Roma's coach replaced Seydou Keita with Dzeko, switching to 4-3-3. Roma immediately began to ramp up the pressure and Dzeko was presented with two gilt-edged opportunities to draw his team level, both of which he failed to convert.
The home side had the upper hand and Perisic almost handed Roma the equaliser on a plate when his errant pass was pounced on by El Sharaawy, who could only find the side netting.
Inter tried to ease the pressure with a fluid move of their own that ended when Szczesny came out to claim a Perisic cross intended for Eder.
Roma's equaliser eventually came in the 84th minute, although it was accompanied by a huge slice of good fortune. Dzeko completely miscued his shot in the area, but it fell fortuitously for Nainggolan to fire home past Handanovic.
With no more clear-cut chances for either side, it finished a goal and a point apiece in the capital and Inter climb onto 55 points.
ROMA 1-1 INTER (HT: 0-0)
Scorers: Perisic 53 and Nainggolan 84.
ROMA: 25 Szczesny; 24 Florenzi, 44 Manolas, 2 Rudiger, 3 Digne (33 Emerson, 81); 4 Nainggolan, 15 Pjanic, 20 Keita (9 Dzeko, 57); 11 Salah, 8 Perotti, 22 El Shaarawy (16 De Rossi, 90+2).
Subs: 26 De Sanctis, 6 Strootman, 10 Totti, 13 Maicon, 14 Falque, 21 Vainqueur, 35 Torosidis, 48 Ucan, 87 Zukanovic.
Coach: Luciano Spalletti.
INTER: 1 Handanovic; 33 D'Ambrosio, 25 Miranda, 24 Murillo, 55 Nagatomo; 77 Brozovic, 17 Medel; 11 Biabiany (97 Manaj, 81), 22 Ljajic (83 Melo, 87), 44 Perisic; 23 Eder.
Subs: 30 Carrizo, 46 Berni, 5 Jesus, 12 Telles, 21 Santon, 27 Gnoukouri.
Coach: Roberto Mancini.
Yellow cards: Keita 22, Medel 63, Handanovic 74, Rudiger 75, Manolas 88.
Injury time: 1+3 minutes.
Referee: Daniele Orsato.
Assistants: Gianluca Cariolato, Filippo Meli.
Fourth official: Francesco De Luca.
Additional assistants: Gianluca Rocchi, Domenico Celi.
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