Despite both teams having virtually nothing to play for, an entertaining first half saw three goals shared between them. Federico Dimarco was particularly lively in the early stages, forcing Lukasz Skorupski into an albeit comfortable save from the edge of the box.
However, the goalkeeper was helpless to stop the Italian’s sumptuous free-kick from curling into the top corner as the champions took the lead midway through first period.
However, Bologna equalised almost immediately through Federico Bernardeschi, who poked home after the ball broke kindly to him in the box.
Both sides squandered further chances to go in front, as Stefan de Vrij’s header from a corner looped onto the roof of the net, before Remo Freuler struck a half-volley over from close range and Jonathan Rowe found the side-netting from a tight angle.
Bologna continued to probe though and managed to turn the game around before half-time, as Tomasso Pobega’s volley from the edge of the area deflected in off the unlucky Lautaro Martinez, who is used to scoring goals at the other end.
Shortly into the second half, Inter then found themselves another goal down as Piotr Zielinski unfortunately diverted a cutback from the left-hand side into his own net.
Bologna certainly had their tails up, and Bernadeschi almost netted his brace when he cut inside and struck towards goal, but Josep Martinez got behind his effort. Inter still possessed a threat, though, and Skorupski did well to deny Carlos Augusto from a narrow angle.
After the hour mark, the visitors managed to pull a goal back through Pio Esposito, who reacted quickest to tap in the rebound when Andy Diouf’s shot came back off the post.
Heading into the latter stages, both teams had further opportunities to add to what was already a five-goal thriller, with Diouf and Lewis Ferguson shooting just wide.
The former got the goal he was threatening, though, as he struck into the net after being put through by Luka Topalovic, denying Bologna victory against the champions.
The Rossoblu miss out on European football and finish in eighth, having won just two home league matches since the start of December (D3, L9), while Inter avoid what would have been a fourth defeat in the last five away meetings (W1, D1, L3), capping off the season with the same spirit that saw them wrestle back the Scudetto.