Mauro Icardi 50th goal in his 100th appearance for Inter Milan was enough to give the Nerazzurri a narrow 1-0 win over 10-man Frosinone on Saturday. A result that keeps their faint Champions League hopes alive. Inter are five points behind Roma, who host Bologna on Monday.
Luca Paganini could have snatched a memorable victory for the hosts when his header from Oliver Kragl’s cross struck the post, Daniel Pavlovic hitting the crossbar with a free-kick and Daniel Ciofani’s late effort clipping the post.
But Icardi headed home an Ivan Perisic cross after 74 minutes to settle the match and put Inter fourth, five points behind Roma with only six games to go in the battle for third place.
The victory gives Inter their first win away from home in Serie A since January 6 and Inter boss Roberto Mancini believes that the win can propel his side into a top three finish this season.
“We will give it all to pass Roma, but it will be tough,” Mancini told Premium Sport. “As long as there are points available you have to fight.
“Next Saturday we hope it will be a beautiful game because Napoli have great players and are having a very good season.
“Today I don’t give any ratings, the important thing is that the team won and controlled the match. In the first half we didn’t play well, but great.
“Yesterday I said that the coach is always depending on the results, while the players have done very well and always gave their best, even if we lost some games undeservedly. But this is football and you have to accept it.”
Icardi showed why so many of Europe’s big clubs are interested in the 23-year-old striker. He had one shot on target against Frosinone and buried it, and his 14 league goals this season are 34% of Inter’s total.
If Inter are to catch Roma, then they are going to need another six or seven goals from Icardi this season.
