Star Metro - Frattesi late show pushes Inter close to title glory

Italy midfielder Frattesi poked home the decisive goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time in Udine to maintain Inter's 14-point lead at the top of the table.

Inter looked to be heading for a draw after Hakan Calhanoglu's penalty nine minutes after half-time levelled Lazar Samardzic's freak deflected opener for Udinese.

AC Milan are Inter's closest challengers and Monday's win ensured that the champions-elect could seal a 20th Scudetto in a hotly-anticipated derby with their local rivals in a fortnight's time.

Samardzic's goal came towards the end of a first half in which Inter went close to scoring three times only to be denied by super saves from Maduka Okoye.

Nigeria goalkeeper Okoye twice denied Calhanoglu from opening the scoring with fine efforts from distance before Samardzic gave the hosts a shock lead.

And Okoye pulled off another stunning stop two minutes after his team went ahead, stretching to his left to keep out Lautaro Martinez's thumping goal-bound header.

Inter were further frustrated again right after the break when Carlos Augusto's tap-in was ruled out for offside but not long afterwards Okoye was penalised for crashing into Marcus Thuram and gave away the spot-kick from which Calhanoglu levelled.

The away side dominated the ball but barely threatened until deep into added time, when Frattesi forced home his seventh and most important goal of the season.

D.Cameron--SMC