MILAN — Federico Dimarco collected his Serie A MVP award shortly before kickoff, then reminded everyone exactly why he earned it. The Inter Milan midfielder curled a 25-yard free kick into the top right corner to open the scoring, and the Nerazzurri settled for a 3-3 draw with Bologna at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara in their finale.
The match that barely mattered
Both sides had reason to treat this one as a formality. Inter had already sealed the league title and the Italian Cup months earlier. Bologna, for its part, had no shot at European qualification. With little on the line, Inter coach Cristian Chivu granted an extra week off to four players heading to the World Cup — Hakan Calhanoglu, Manuel Akanji, Marcus Thuram and Denzel Dumfries. Captain Lautaro Martínez, though, was on the pitch from the start. He had only just returned from injury and needed the minutes more than the rest.
The matchup already has enough history; the job is to keep the reading list shorter than the tension.
Dimarco's free kick put Inter ahead, but the lead lasted all of three minutes before Federico Bernardeschi equalized. Bologna went ahead just before halftime when Tommaso Pobega's volley caught a double deflection and Wrong. The sequence Unusual deflections wrong direction wrongdirection, but that's how the ball ends up in the net.
The second-half drift
Inter self-destructed shortly after the break. Piotr Zieliński turned a cross into his own net to hand Bologna what looked like a winning path. The visitors made it interesting when Pio Esposito tapped in a rebound in the 64th minute after Andy Diouf's effort bounced off the post. Diouf added his own goal late, in the 86th, to complete the scoring at 3-3.
It was the kind of result that feels exactly right for a dead-rubber final day — entertaining, careless in stretches, ultimately meaningless.
Pedro's send-off at Lazio
Elsewhere, Pedro gave Lazio fans something to actually cheer. The 38-year-old winger scored the winner in a 2-1 comeback against already-relegated Pisa, marking his final appearance with the capital club after five seasons. He previously played for Barcelona, Chelsea and Roma, and he collected a World Cup with Spain in 2010 and a European Championship two years later.
Lazio wore a commemorative patch on their shirts for the occasion. Stefano Moreo had put Pisa ahead early, but Fisayo Dele-Bashiru equalized before Pedro sealed the reversal. He's leaving exactly the way he arrived — with a goal that mattered to the people in the stands.
Most of Serie A's final round runs on Sunday night. Four clubs remain in contention for the last two Champions League spots, while two others still have something to lose in the relegation picture.