Inter Milan's faint hopes of catching runaway Serie A leaders Napoli suffered a huge blow when they fell to a shock 2-1 defeat at relegation-threatened Spezia on Friday.
Simone Inzaghi's side stay in second place with 50 points from 26 games but are now only two points ahead of Lazio, who visit mid-table Bologna on Saturday.
Napoli lead Inter by 15 points before they host Atalanta.
Inter squandered an early penalty when Lautaro Martinez's attempt after 14 minutes was superbly saved by Spezia's Polis goalkeeper Bartlomiej Dragowski.
Spezia took the lead 10 minutes into the second half with their first shot on target when M'Bala Nzola fought off two defenders inside the box before finding the unmarked Daniel Maldini, who fired into the bottom corner of the net.
Inter got another penalty after 83 minutes when Denzel Dumfries was fouled and this time Romelu Lukaku made no mistake.
Nzola ruined Inter's night completely when he converted the third penalty of the game three minutes from time.
Spezia remain in 17th place but are now six points above the relegation zone.
YoDaddy8
0
but now with the quality of players that intermilan possess ,I wonder why inter z performing so poorly against smaller teams. forget being a big team in Europe
Because of the coach
jeuabdlrtu
0
but now with the quality of players that intermilan possess ,I wonder why inter z performing so poorly against smaller teams. forget being a big team in Europe
biybeirz
3
Daniel Maldini son of ac milan legend (Pablo Maldini) on loan from parent club (AC MILAN) scores against AC MILAN and INTER MILAN in the same season that's a first.