Matteo Darmian scored the only goal to push Inter Milan to the brink of the Serie A title with a 1-0 win over Hellas Verona on Sunday with coach Antonio Conte hailing the victory as worth “nine points”.
Achraf Hakimi sent the ball through for Darmian to grab the winner after 76 minutes in the San Siro as Inter open up a 13-point lead on AC Milan who travel to Lazio on Monday.
“Today’s victory is not worth only three points, not even six. It is worth nine,” said Conte.
“The ball begins to weigh, we are feeling the pressure.
“This win is worth 95% of the Scudetto. We haven’t won it yet but we are close.”
Juventus are equal on points with AC Milan in third place, with Atalanta a further point behind before hosting Bologna.
With five games left to play, Inter could claim their first Serie A title since 2010 as early as next weekend.
In Florence, second-half substitute Alvaro Morata scored immediately after coming off the bench to rescue a point for Juventus.