Hellas Verona’s winless start to the Serie A season stretched to 10 games after they fell 2-1 at home to Inter Milan, who snatched victory deep into stoppage time to extend their unbeaten run in this fixture to an astonishing 30 matches.

Despite a hectic schedule prompting Cristian Chivu to rotate his starting lineup, Inter began brightly and looked sharp from the off. Within three minutes, Piotr Zieliński forced Lorenzo Montipò into a fine save low to his left, before Victor Nelsson produced a crucial clearance to deny Lautaro Martínez’s clever chip from crossing the line.

Inter’s pressure was relentless, but it took a moment of brilliance to finally breach Verona’s defence. Hakan Çalhanoğlu’s corner found Zieliński lurking on the edge of the area, and the Polish midfielder marked his first start of the season with a superb side-footed volley that flew past a helpless Montipò.

After Alessandro Bastoni’s header was also kept out by the Verona keeper, the hosts began to grow into the game. Their persistence paid off just before the break when Gift Orban picked out Giovane on the right flank. The winger surged past Bastoni and unleashed a powerful strike across Yann Sommer and into the far corner — his first goal in European football.

Verona nearly completed the turnaround moments later as Orban struck the post in stoppage time, leaving Inter rattled heading into the break.

The second half saw a noticeable dip in Inter’s rhythm, as Verona continued to frustrate the visitors. Chivu responded by introducing Denzel Dumfries, Nicolò Barella, and Federico Dimarco, yet Inter still struggled to find their earlier fluency, with Montipò largely untroubled.

As the game entered its final stages, Verona were camped deep in their own half, but Inter’s efforts seemed destined to come to nothing — until the very last moments. In stoppage time, Barella’s cross to the far post skipped past a crowd of players and took an unfortunate deflection off Martin Frese, looping past the helpless Montipò for a heartbreaking own goal.

The late blow condemned Verona to remain in the relegation zone, their home winless run now at 12 games. Inter, meanwhile, escaped with all three points despite a poor second-half showing, and move within one point of defending champions Napoli thanks to their ninth win in ten matches.