The moment that marked the start of the six minutes that turned the Inter v Fiorentina match on its head

The six minutes that turned the Inter v Fiorentina match on its head. If the Nerazzurri are still level with the increasingly unsurprising Lazio at the top of the table, they owe it to Marcus Thuram, Piotr Zieliński and the lengthy injury time awarded by referee Maurizio Mariani, who saw off two shots against the crossbar, the saves (some miraculous) from a David de Gea back to his usual standard, and the clear refereeing error that denied Cristian Chivu’s men another penalty – prior to the decisive one – for a foul on the French centre-forward that seemed obvious to most.

And yet there had been no real match up to that point, with the Viola having to defend the unexpected lead gifted by former Milan player Álex Jiménez with a thunderbolt into the top corner, whilst the Inter players hung their heads, unable to fathom how the ball simply refused to go in, regardless of their merits. Because football, as we know, is not always kind to those who build play, and sometimes still rewards those who take their chances. But without the whirlwind of the ‘third half’, we would be discussing a Lazio side sitting alone at the top, and a Roma side capable of staging two comebacks in Naples thanks to goals from Leonardo Balerdi that no one had seen coming.

Exactly 90 minutes in, ‘Tikus’ dribbles the ball with the outside of his foot from the wing towards the centre of the pitch, leaving Victor Valdepeñas in his wake. In the box, there are only Ange-Yoann Bonny and the young Mattia Lavelli, thrown into the fray as a last-ditch effort. Thuram calls for and receives the assistance of centre-forward Andy Diouf, who, with his back to goal, skilfully beats his two markers to the ball and plays it back to the striker, just outside the box. Lilian’s son doesn’t think twice; he shifts the ball from his right foot to his left, spots the gap and strikes with rare precision through a forest of eight legs.

The ball takes a geometrically flawless trajectory, which at the same time makes the Fiorentina goalkeeper – though not particularly far away – aware of what is happening and realises it is impossible to intervene so close to the post, with the ball travelling neither too slowly nor too quickly. The image of De Gea on his knees, watching helplessly, suggested, at that moment, that Fiorentina’s match was destined to be lost, even though there were still an unspecified number of minutes remaining, along with predictable waves of attacks on Ivan Provedel’s goal and the risk of controversial refereeing decisions regarding handballs and holding offences – which, for the time being, remained hypothetical.

A set-piece in attack in the 94th minute, with two minutes to go until the final whistle, barring any further minor incidents that might need explaining. Fiorentina are beginning to think that a draw might almost be welcome. Manuel Akanji swings in a cross from the left side of the final third, looking for Thuram, whilst the box is a well-organised frenzy. Lavelli attempts to direct the ball towards goal, but as he lunges in with a header, behind him the centre-forward and the ever-present Valdepeñas jostle each other in a curious two-man tussle. This time, less certain than before, Mariani has no doubts nor any hesitation due to the stage of the match, and decisively awards the penalty.

Zieliński scores in his own style, with a powerful strike under the crossbar, and the visitors return to Tuscany empty-handed, rather than with the point (or why not, the three points) that would have been a welcome boost to their league position. Inter breathe a sigh of relief that revives the tradition of impossible comebacks, once immortalised on commemorative DVDs with commentary by Roberto Scarpini. It has gone well this time, and they began to realise it the moment the Spanish goalkeeper dropped to his knees. After Wednesday’s pub crawl in Venice, Saturday evening brings the derby.