Inter held at Bologna

Inter Milan fell further off the pace at the top of Serie A on Sunday after being held to a 1-1 draw at struggling Bologna.

Inter Milan fell further off the pace at the top of Serie A on Sunday after being held to a 1-1 draw at struggling Bologna. Inter went behind to a Panagiotis Kone strike after 12 minutes and, although they levelled through Jonathan's deflected effort in the 51st minute, the Nerazzuri could not force a winner. The result sees Inter remain in fourth place, two points behind Napoli and eight behind new leaders Juventus. Bologna came into the match hovering just above the relegation zone, but were uncowed in the early exchanges and deservedly took the lead on the counter-attack when Jonathan Cristaldo squared for Kone who took a touch before finishing under Samir Handanovic. The goal sparked Inter into life and Rodrigo Palacio twice went close to levelling either side of Fredy Guarin's volley that flew over the bar. Guarin threatened again in the 28th minute when he attempted to lob Gianluca Curci, but the goalkeeper did well to claw the ball away for a corner. Palacio saw a header skim the post and a Guarin free-kick hit the bar as Inter ended the half on the front foot. The alarm bells were ringing loud and clear for the Bologna defence by this point and it came as little surprise when Inter finally made the breakthrough six minutes after the restart when Jonathan's low strike was deflected past Curci by the unfortunate Mikael Antonsson. Handanovic kept out Rolando Bianchi's long-range strike as Bologna looked for an immediate response, but the rest of the contest belonged to Inter, with Guarin again threatening with a shot that brought the best out of Curci. Inter almost snatched all the points two minutes into added time when the ball broke to Juan Jesus, but his half-volley came back off the bar.