Inter held by Chievo

Inter Milan failed to make up much ground in their pursuit of a top-three finish after being held to a 1-1 home draw by Chievo.

Inter Milan failed to make up much ground in their pursuit of a top-three finish after being held to a 1-1 home draw by Chievo on Monday evening. After Yuto Nagatomo cancelled out Alberto Paloschi's eighth-minute opener, the Japanese defender looked to have given the hosts a 2-1 lead in the 14th minute. However, the referee disallowed the goal for a dubious offside. Inter have now won just one of their last seven Serie A games and are fifth in the table, 10 points adrift of third-placed Napoli in the last Champions League qualifying spot. Chievo boosted their survival hopes as they climbed two places and one point clear of the relegation zone. Inter went into the encounter on the back of consecutive defeats, a 1-0 loss at Lazio in the league and a 1-0 reverse at Udinese in the Coppa Italia. The visitors enjoyed a strong start and went ahead when Paloschi drilled a right-footed shot from the box past Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic. Inter equalised in the 12th minute when Ricky Alvarez found Nagatomo in the heart of the area and he struck the ball towards the far post and out of Chievo goalkeeper Christian Puggioni's reach. Nagatomo then appeared to beat the offside trap and score again just two minutes later only for the linesman to raise his flag. Inter continued to press forward and in the 25th minute Rodrigo Palacio's header from Jonathan's cross went wide. Palacio wasted another good chance to put Inter ahead before the interval when he fired a right-footed shot wide from a good angle. Inter increased the tempo after half-time but struggled to break through. Before the hour mark, Alvarez's hard drive from 30 yards was kept out by Puggioni. Inter coach Walter Mazzarri brought on Diego Milito to replace Esteban Cambiasso in the 65th minute. At the other end, Cyril Thereau's header from Simone Bentivoglio's cross was off target. Inter failed to put a good move together as Chievo defended deeply in the last stages of the game and held on for a valuable point.