By Muhammed Enes Calli
ANKARA (AA) - Inter Milan defeated city rivals AC Milan 4-2 in late Sunday's derby with a remarkable comeback to lead the Italian top-tier division Serie A.
AC Milan shocked Inter with an impressive first half performance as Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Croatian forward Ante Rebic doubled the lead for the visitors at Giuseppe Meazza Stadium, 2-0.
"Rossoneri" (The Red and Blacks) thought that they clinched the victory however Inter turned the tables in the second half, scoring two consecutive goals to equalize the match at first.
Croatian midfielder Marcelo Brozovic and Matias Vecino from Uruguay put the ball into Milan net in the early minutes of the second half, 2-2.
Dutch defender Stefan de Vrij's header gave Inter the 3-2 lead in the 70th minute as "Nerazzurri" (The Black and Blues) completed the comeback in a hard-fought match.
Belgian star Romelu Lukaku's stoppage time header secured the 4-2 win for Antonio Conte's men as Inter earned 54 points to reach the top of the Serie A.
Separately the defending champions Juventus were beaten by Verona 2-1 in Saturday's away match to trail Inter in the league.
The Turin club had 54 points but came second by goal average.
Following the derby loss, Milan moved downwards in the standings as they are now in the 10th spot with 32 points.
This season a team from the capital Rome, Lazio have been fighting for the Serie A title as well.
Beating Parma 1-0 on Sunday, Lazio had 53 points to chase Inter and Juventus.
- Week 23 results in Serie A are as follows:
Roma - Bologna: 2-3
Fiorentina - Atalanta: 1-2
Torino - Sampdoria: 1-3
Verona - Juventus: 2-1
SPAL - Sassuolo : 1-2
Genoa - Cagliari: 1-0
Napoli - Lecce: 2-3
Brescia - Udinese: 1-1
Parma - Lazio: 0-1
Inter Milan - AC Milan: 4-2