Inter take Serie A lead as Milan, Napoli stumble

Teenage defender Davide Bartesaghi scored his first senior goals but couldn’t prevent AC Milan from being held to a 2-2 draw at home to Sassuolo and being overtaken at the top of Serie A by city rival Inter Milan on Sunday.

Inter won 2-1 at relegation-threatened Genoa to move a point ahead of Milan and two points above Napoli, which lost 1-0 at Udinese. At San Siro, Ismaël Koné gave Sassuolo a surprise lead in the 13th minute but Milan leveled in the 34th as Ruben Loftus-Cheek rolled the ball across the area for Bartesaghi to power in from close range.

The 19-year-old Bartesaghi doubled his tally immediately after halftime when he ran onto Christopher Nkunku’s smart pass and fired inside the near post. Christian Pulisic and Loftus-Cheek both had goals disallowed for Milan before Sassuolo equalized in the 77th minute through substitute Armand Laurienté.

Laurienté, who had changed the match when he came on, almost scored a stunning winner in the 88th minute following a solo run from his own half but his effort crashed off the left post. Napoli knew it could move atop the standings following Milan’s result. However, it was Udinese that had the better of the chances and twice thought it had broken the deadlock only to have both goals struck off on video review.

Keinan Davis’s strike was ruled out in the 52nd minute for offside and Nicolò Zaniolo also saw his effort chalked off in the 69th because there was a foul in the buildup. Between those decisions, Udinese also hit the crossbar through Jakub Piotrowski. The hosts finally broke the deadlock in the 73rd minute when Jurgen Ekkelenkamp curled a magnificent strike into the far top corner from outside the area.

Rasmus Højlund should have leveled two minutes from time but he somehow fired over an open goal from point-blank range, while Lorenzo Lucca — who joined Napoli from Udinese in July — hit the post in stoppage time. Instead it was Inter which moved into the sole lead of Serie A with what looked set to be a routine win, until the final 25 minutes.

Yann Bisseck got Inter off to a perfect start with an early goal and Lautaro Martínez doubled his side’s advantage shortly before halftime. Vitinha pulled one back for Genoa midway through the second half after squeezing his way through two defenders and rounding Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer. Genoa was two points off the relegation zone.

Elsewhere, Juventus won 1-0 at 10-man Bologna to leapfrog its opponent into fifth place — one point below the top four. Substitute Juan Cabal headed Juventus in front in the 64th, three minutes after coming off the bench. Bologna defender Torbjørn Heggem was shown a red card five minutes later for denying a clear scoring opportunity.

Gift Emmanuel Orban scored twice — including in stoppage time — as Hellas Verona won 2-1 at last-placed Fiorentina in a relegation battle to move to within two points of safety. Fiorentina was without a win and eight points from safety. Its fans displayed a banner addressing their Verona counterparts with the words “whoever finishes last pays for the drinks.