Cher Ndour's 77th-minute leveller saw Inter drop points in the Serie A title race as they were held to a 1-1 draw by struggling Fiorentina at the Stadio Artemio Franchi. 

Having seen rivals AC Milan close the gap to five points on Saturday, Cristian Chivu's side were unable to restore their eight-point advantage heading into the international break. 

Inter needed just 39 seconds to open the scoring through Francesco Pio Esposito, who nodded Nicolo Barella's cross beyond David de Gea after Fiorentina failed to clear Denzel Dumfries' long throw into the penalty area. 

The ball was in the back of the net again six minutes later when Barella's shot deflected off a combination of Ndour and Marco Brescianini and flew into the net, but the Inter captain's joy was short-lived, with the goal ruled out for offside. 

Moise Kean thought he had hauled Fiorentina level six minutes before the break, but his volley was also disallowed for offside after Nicolo Fagioli's shot deflected off Carlos Augusto and fell kindly into his path. 

The hosts improved after the break and only a brilliant stop from Yann Sommer stopped Ndour from finding the bottom corner, but the Fiorentina forward would make his mark. 

Albert Gudmundsson's shot was repelled once again by visiting goalkeeper Sommer, but Ndour tucked home the rebound from inside the six-yard box for the equaliser.

Inter had two chances to snatch all three points in second-half stoppage time, but Manuel Akanji and Esposito both saw their attempts repelled by an inspired De Gea. 

Data Debrief: Inter run out of steam after Esposito's opener

Inter have shown signs of their title charge stumbling in recent weeks, with the result here seeing them draw consecutive Serie A matches for the first time since between May and August 2024, offering Milan hope of an unlikely Scudetto tilt. 

If the Nerazzurri are to stay the course, they need Esposito to maintain his form. He has now scored six times in 2025-26, becoming only the fourth Inter player to score more than five goals in a Serie A campaign before turning 21 in the three-points-for-a-win era, after Nicola Ventola, Obafemi Martins, and Mario Balotelli.

But the league leaders will perhaps be grateful to leave Florence with a point, given they ended the contest with an expected goals (xG) total of just 1.32 from 12 shots, compared to Fiorentina's 2.28 from 16 attempts.