Close shave as Icardi saves Inter

MILAN — Captain Mauro Icardi rescued a 1-1 draw for Inter Milan at Bologna on Tuesday that ended his side’s perfect start to the Serie A season.

Inter coach Luciano Spalletti had been looking to make it five wins in a row but had to settle for just a point in.

Simone Verdi’s superb longrange first-half goal was just the second conceded by Inter before Icardi — sporting a freshly shaved scalp — converted a contentious spot-kick with 13 minutes to go at Stadio Dall’Ara.

“We had to take advantage of the last quarter of an hour,” said Icardi after his sixth goal this season.

“We could have done something more, but we were not able to finish.

“Now against Genoa (on Sunday) we have to go back and win at home. With our fans we have an extra player. We have to go back to continue the positive streak.”

Chinese-owned Inter has emerged as one of the title challengers to Juventus and Napoli, both of which also had maximum points after four matches.

Now with 13 points, Inter provisionally moves to the top of the standings, but Juve and Napoli can pull ahead when they play Fiorentina and Lazio respectively on Wednesday.

A win for Lazio — sitting fourth — would put the Romans equal on points with Inter.

“There are two lost points, we will see what went wrong this week,” said Inter striker Eder. “We have to look at ourselves not Napoli and Juventus, our goal is the Champions League and we have to fight at all costs.”

Spalletti had made just one change to the side that beat Crotone on Saturday, with Japanese defender Yuto Nagatomo in for Brazilian Dalbert.

However, Inter struggled in the first half with Icardi just failing to get on the end of an Ivan Perisic cross before Verdi got on the scoresheet after 32 minutes following half a dozen early shots.

Inter gained momentum after the break but failed to find a way through until the controversial foul by Ibrahima Mbaye on Eder which was confirmed by the video assistant referee.

Eder won the spot-kick, as he was running away from goal when Mbaye tripped and accidentally landed with his arm on the forward’s heel.

“He scored tonight, so we’ll shave his head every day now,” joked Spalletti of Icardi.