Pedro steps up for old mate Conte to enrage Inter and put Napoli one win from title | Nicky Bandini

Antonio Conte looked like a man who just wanted to be tucked up in bed, sinking into his seat in the Stadio Tardini’s press conference room instead and dropping his head between his hands. “Very tired,” he replied when a journalist asked how he was feeling. He kept repeating those words while the next question was being asked, a quiet little chant: “Very tired. Very tired. Very tired.”

Even a neutral spectator might have felt exhausted from keeping up with all the twists and turns on a night when Conte’s Napoli twice lost control of the Serie A title race and twice got it back – all without scoring or conceding any goals. A night of VAR controversies, penalties awarded then unawarded and deep, bitter regret.

The greatest part of the drama unfolded a little less than 90 miles away, at San Siro, where second-placed Inter were hosting Lazio. Serie A scheduled all but one of the weekend’s games to kick off consecutively on Sunday evening, to ensure no team fighting for top spots or to avoid relegation could be advantaged in this penultimate round by knowing rivals’ results ahead of time.

Napoli began the night with a one-point lead in the title race. So when Yann Bisseck scored for Inter on the stroke of half-time, blasting a rebound into the roof of the net from a corner, his team jumped ahead in the real-time standings. Napoli were struggling to carve out chances in their game away to Parma, though Frank Zambo Anguissa did smash a brilliant individual effort against the inside of a post.

If this had been the Inter side that won the league last May, conceding only 22 goals and keeping as many clean sheets, that might have been the end of the story. But it isn’t and it wasn’t. This season’s team is just as capable of magnificent football – perhaps more so, as we have witnessed on their run to a Champions League final – but far more vulnerable defensively.

They had already received a warning, Boulaye Dia getting his feet wrong on a good chance inside the penalty area, before Pedro equalised for Lazio in the 72nd minute. The goal was initially flagged for offside, but replays showed both the scorer and Matías Vecino, who provided the assist, in legal positions when Adam Marusic directed the initial ball into the area.

Inter responded immediately, Denzel Dumfries heading in at the back post from Hakan Calhanoglu’s free-kick. The story was already written, another triumph of resilience from these never-say-die Nerazzurri, displaying the same spirit that allowed them to summon an equaliser from a 37-year-old centre-back in the 183rd-minute of their Champions League semi-final against Barcelona.

But Lazio have a 37-year-old of their own. Pedro grew up in Barcelona’s academy and played for their senior team for seven years, winning La Liga five times and the Champions League three before joining Chelsea and claiming a Premier League title under Conte there as well. All before that same manager left to win Serie A with Inter, whom he is now opposing. So many threads that connect in this fascinating web of a campaign.

Pedro joined Lazio from Roma in 2021 but has mostly been an impact sub over the last two campaigns. He came off the bench again on Sunday, replacing Gustav Isaksen early in the second half. Having already scored Lazio’s first equaliser, he dragged his team level again from a 90th-minute penalty.

The referee, Daniele Chiffi, initially missed Bisseck’s handball, but replays showed the defender, despite keeping his hands behind his back, move his elbow towards the ball as Taty Castellanos attempted to flick it past him inside the area. After a long VAR review, Pedro converted calmly – an extraordinary ninth goal off the bench for him in this campaign.

Pedro slots away the spot-kick at San Siro after a long VAR review. Photograph: Matteo Bazzi/EPA

For the second time in one night, his strike knocked Inter out of first place. Lazio had their own story unfolding – they began this round in fifth and still hoped for a chance at Champions League qualification – but their fans had been banned from coming to this game following violence at the Rome derby last month. It was celebrated enthusiastically enough, though, by those Napoli fans in the away section at the Tardini.

They thought they had something even greater to cheer moments later, when their own team was awarded a penalty against Parma in the sixth minute of injury time. It had been a tense second half, with Matteo Politano hitting the bar for Napoli but their opponents – fighting for top-flight survival – not giving up an awful lot besides. That was before David Neres made a move into the box from and collided with the defender Mathias Løvik. The referee, Daniele Doveri, pointed to the spot.

A long VAR check followed. Had Neres chosen to go down before he was fouled? In fact, the officials were reviewing a separate incident in the buildup. Napoli’s Giovanni Simeone fouled Alessandro Circati before the ball reached Neres in the first place. It was a free-kick in the opposite direction.

On and on the drama went. Inter-Lazio and Parma-Napoli both stretched past 100 minutes, extending to accommodate these lengthy replay reviews. It could never be enough to convince all parties that justice had been done. Inter were still smarting over a penalty not awarded for an apparent shove on Bisseck by Nicolò Rovella in the first half. When their game finally ended, 2-2, a media silence was imposed.

Simone Inzaghi had been sent off for protesting after the late penalty award. Lazio’s manager, Marco Baroni, was likewise dismissed for reacting. And Antonio Conte saw red, too, in the dying moments of Napoli’s game, after he got into an altercation with Parma’s assistant manager Antonio Gagliardi – a former match analyst with whom he previously worked while in charge of the Italian national team.

Inter’s coach, Simone Inzaghi, looks at Lazio coach, Marco Baroni, after both were sent to the stands in stoppage time. Photograph: Massimo Pinca/Reuters

He cannot have been the only one feeling exhausted. This title race has gone to the wire, Napoli maintaining their one-point lead over Inter heading into the final weekend, but so have the contests to claim Italy’s last Champions League spot and to avoid relegation. Juventus hold fourth for now but Roma, who beat Milan 3-1, and Lazio can still overtake them. Parma could yet be relegated, sitting 16th with a two-point advantage over Lecce and Empoli.

And so we wait for final resolutions. Napoli finish at home to Cagliari, themselves now safe from the drop after beating Venezia. Inter go away to a Como side who have taken six wins and two draws from their last eight matches.

Both title contenders will have their managers suspended. On paper, nevertheless, it looks very much like Conte’s team ought to seal their fourth Scudetto. If they do, then Inter will live with the regrets of this night, when they twice fought their way to the front of the pack only to let themselves be reeled back in, for a very long time.

We can remind ourselves here of the bigger picture. Inter, who played both rounds of the Supercoppa and reached a Coppa Italia semi-final, as well as going to the Champions League final, have played 17 more matches than Napoli this season. If Conte is very tired right now, one can only imagine how the likes of Alessandro Bastoni, making his 52nd appearance of the campaign, or even the 36-year-old Henrikh Mkhitaryan, on his 48th, are feeling.