Inter Milan boost Serie A title defence bid with comfortable win over Verona

Juventus also victorious on Saturday after coming from behind to defeat Cagliari

Edin Dzeko celebrates after scoring Inter Milan's second goal in the 2-0 Serie A win over Verona at the San Siro. AFP

Inter Milan moved to within a point of rivals AC Milan at the top of Serie A after claiming a comfortable 2-0 win over Verona on Saturday, while Juventus boosted their top four hopes with a comeback victory at Cagliari.

First-half goals from Nicolo Barella and Edin Dzeko in front of around 60,000 fans at the San Siro made sure that the Italian champions built on their morale-boosting win at Juventus last weekend by moving into second place.

Inter are level on 66 points with Napoli, who host Fiorentina on Sunday, but ahead of Luciano Spalletti's side in the table thanks to their superior head-to-head record.

Milan meanwhile are at Torino in Sunday's late match with their two main title rivals hot on their heels wth seven rounds of fixtures to be completed in an enthralling race for the scudetto.

"This win has given us some continuity after Turin and although there is still some way to go I saw some good signs out there," said Inter manager Simone Inzaghi to DAZN.

"We told ourselves that we needed to win otherwise Turin would have been worth nothing and we did it against a team who are very difficult to play against. They've made it difficult for a lot of teams."

The only worry for Inzaghi was a thigh problem for Stefan de Vrij which forced the Netherlands defender off at half-time on his return from a month out with a calf injury, although the Italian said it shouldn't be anything serious.

Juve fight back at Cagliari

Four points behind Inter in fourth are Juventus, who came back from a goal down to win 2-1 at relegation-threatened Cagliari thanks to Matthijs de Ligt and Dusan Vlahovic.

Dutchman De Ligt levelled on the stroke of half-time in Sardinia after Joao Pedro had given the hosts a shock 10th-minute lead and a previous Juve equaliser was ruled out for an odd handball.

Luca Pellegrini's 23rd minute shot clipped off Adrien Rabiot's left elbow while the Frenchman's back was turned and flew past Cagliari goalkeeper Alessio Cragno only for the VAR officials to disallow the goal.

Giorgio Chiellini then had his close-range finish rightly chalked off for offside just after the restart before Vlahovic got the better of the impressive Cragno with 15 minutes remaining. The Serbia forward toed in his 22nd league goal of the campaign to move top of the Serie A scoring charts.

Juve are now eight points ahead of fifth-placed Roma and in place to take advantage of any slips from Milan or Napoli.