Bologna 3-3 Inter: Scudetto winners come from 3-1 down at the Renato Dall'Ara to close Serie A unbeaten
Inter Milan's Scudetto-winning season did not end with a procession. The champions of Italy went 3-1 down at the Renato Dall'Ara on Saturday night, with a Piotr Zielinski own goal completing Bologna's lead three minutes after the restart, before Filippo Esposito and Andy Diouf hauled them back for a 3-3 draw and a 12-match unbeaten close to the campaign.
The match was the last of Serie A's split-day finale and a dead rubber on the table. Inter had already wrapped the 21st Scudetto in club history with a 2-0 home win over Parma on 3 May, three matchdays out. Bologna were guaranteed to finish eighth regardless of the result. Cristian Chivu's first season in charge of the Nerazzurri still produced a domestic double, with the Coppa Italia secured against Lazio earlier this month, but Saturday night will be remembered as the messiest goodbye of his title campaign.
How a champagne afternoon turned into a fight
Federico Dimarco opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, the kind of well-drilled Inter goal that has become routine across the league season. Bologna levelled three minutes later through Federico Bernardeschi and went ahead in the 42nd minute when Tommaso Pobega struck from inside the area, sending the hosts into the break 2-1 up.
The decisive Bologna goal came almost immediately in the second half. Zielinski's own goal in the 48th minute put the hosts 3-1 in front and the Renato Dall'Ara into the kind of noise that suggested the home crowd had decided to send their guests home with a dent. The atmosphere held until Filippo Esposito pulled one back for Inter in the 64th minute and Diouf, the late equaliser, finished a move in the 87th to level it 3-3.
What it means for the table and the records
The draw closes Inter's Serie A on 87 points across 38 matches. The 12-match unbeaten run, with seven wins and five draws, is a sturdier signal of where this team is than any single Saturday night, but the table was sealed three weeks ago. Bologna finish eighth and head into the summer with a fourth straight top-half finish despite missing the European places by a margin.
Chivu's domestic double is the first by an Inter manager since José Mourinho's treble-winning side in 2010, and only the second in 16 years. The pieces in front of him for next season include a defence that struggled to close out two-goal advantages on Saturday and a Bologna midfield that overran his own across the first hour. Both are problems the Champions League draw will not look kindly on.
The rest of Italy's last day
Serie A's other nine matches kick off across Sunday, with the Champions League seats below Inter still to be allocated. Napoli host Udinese at the Maradona, Milan welcome Cagliari to San Siro in the late slot at 20:45 CEST, and Verona host Roma in a fixture that could shape the European spread below the top four. Inter watch from the couch, with the trophy lift in front of their own crowd already done.
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