A team that once proudly sat alongside Inter as one of Serie A’s ‘Seven Sisters’ in the Italian top flight’s highly esteemed 1990s, Fiorentina made the worst-possible start here against the runaway leaders.
Pio Esposito took the early initiative when he fired Inter ahead with a superb glancing header from Nicolo Barella’s cross inside the opening minute, before Barella then had a deflected effort ruled out for offside, with La Viola seemingly sleepwalking their way to a heavy defeat.
However, Paolo Vanoli’s side gradually grew into the game and had several opportunities to restore parity in a lively first half.
Moise Kean was agonisingly close to sliding home Marco Brescianini’s cross at the far post, while Albert Guðmundsson failed to make a decent connection with Dodo’s enticing delivery, as the ball bounced off the Iceland international’s shoulder before going behind. Kean then had a goal chalked for offside, in a late first-half rally which would have given the hosts reason for optimism heading into the break.
Fiorentina struggled to continue with the same intensity after the break, with Inter spurning two chances to double their lead, as Manuel Akanji and Marcus Thuram both missed the target from corner deliveries.
But just like the first half, Fiorentina rallied as the half wore on and got their reward with a 77th-minute equaliser, when Cher Ndour reacted quickest on the rebound to fire home from close range, after Yann Sommer could only parry Gudmundsson’s angled attempt into the midfielder’s path.
All the momentum had swayed in La Viola’s favour, and Jack Harrison went inches away from a second, curling a left-footed strike just past the far post.
Ultimately, though, the spoils were shared, continuing Fiorentina’s recent – and very timely – revival. La Viola are now unbeaten in their last five games across all competitions (W3, D2), but nobody will be getting too carried away considering their precarious position in 16th - just two points clear of the bottom three.
Meanwhile, Inter missed the chance to re-establish their eight-point lead at the top, and hold a six-point advantage over city rivals AC Milan at the summit.