Inter defeated Sparta Prague 1-0 in the Champions League on Wednesday thanks to a goal from Lautaro Martinez in the first half, which kept them in the running for a top-eight finish.
The visitors improved to fourth place in the standings after overcoming their loss to Bayer Leverkusen in the previous round of the competition. Martinez connected with Alessandro Bastoni's cross in the 12th minute and volleyed in at the back post from the narrowest of angles. Peter Vindahl had no chance as the ball rebounded up and in off the underside of the crossbar. The host team, already eliminated from the play-off picture, failed to contribute anything in the way of a goal threat and lost for the fifth time in a row. Despite Sparta's second-half improvement, they almost fell to a larger defeat as Denzel Dumfries neatly tucked the ball into the back of the net, only for it to be disallowed for offside following a VAR review.