It seemed that Inter were back in the race for the Scudetto. They defeated the league leaders Napoli three days ago, tonight in the 17th round of Serie A, they were a minute-two, away from their fourth consecutive league victory. From the middle of the first half until the third minute of stoppage time in the second half, the Nerazzurri had a 2:1 advantage and several opportunities to increase it, mainly through Lautaro Martinez. But the Argentinian, despite the goal he scored, looked like a striker who missed good opportunities, just like at the recently finished World Cup, and during that time, Monza took advantage of their opportunity to steal a point(s) from Milan giant – 2:2.Monza players were heroes tonight, all of them who played for coach Rafaele Paladino against Inter. Especially the defender Luca Caldirola, who scored an equalizer in the dying minutes of the game, even thou it looked like he forced Denzel Dumfries into a mistake and scored an own goal.
LUCA CALDIROLA STUNS HIS FORMER CLUB INTER IN STOPPAGE TIME. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/u20rgv0Np4— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) January 7, 2023 ‘We found a new coach, who was at our youth team, he is good, smart, kind, and able to stimulate and motivate our lads. I decided to add extra stimulation, so I told the lads you will play Milan, Juventus, etc, so if you beat one of these big teams, I will have you greeted in the locker room by a bus full of wh***s“ said Monza president and former Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi less than a month ago, at the Christmas dinner for the players and their families. He later said it was a joke, but this was a draw, and Juve and Milan are coming up soon, so anything can happen.What a present at the Christmas party: ‘I’ll bring you a bus full of who**s’!Among other things, Lautaro Martinez gave the Biancoros the necessary self-confidence. After stealing the ball from a nonchalant Pablo Mario in the 22nd minute and scoring for 2:1, the Argentinian failed to capitalize on several opportunities, and he missed the most mature one in the 84th, when he opened his foot, but sent the ball only to the right post. He created chances easily but found it very tough to convert them into goals. Even so, with his eighth goal, he moved to second place on the list of Serie A scorers behind Viktor Osimhen, the Nigerian bomber. With this unexpected draw, the Italian giants are now 7 points away from Napoli, who has a game in hand.SERIE A – Round 17SaturdayFiorentina – Sassuolo 2-1 (0-0)/Saponara 48, Gonzalez 90+1 pen – Berardi 57 pen/Juventus – Udinese 1-0 (0-0)/Danilo 86/Monza – Inter 2-2 (1-2)/Ciurria 11, Caldirola 90+3 – Darmian 10, Lautaro 22/Sunday14:30: (3.50) Salernitana (3.25) Torino (2.30)17:00: (2.70) Spezia (3.05) Lecce (3.00)17:00: (1.60) Lazio (4.10) Empoli (6.25)20:00: (8.50) Sampdoria (4.50) Napoli (1.45)22:45: (1.95) Milan (3.50) Roma (4.40)Monday20:30: (2.20) Verona (3.35) Cremonese (3.35)22:45: (3.60) Bologna (3.40) Atalanta (2.20)***odds are subject to change***