While Inter assistant Aleksandar Kolarov conceded his team were far from their best in their 1-1 draw with Fiorentina, he knows the Serie A title race is still in their hands. 

Kolarov stood in for the suspended Cristian Chivu on Sunday and watched on as Francesco Pio Esposito's early opener was cancelled out in the 77th minute by Cher Ndour. 

It was a result that saw Inter fail to restore their eight-point advantage over title rivals AC Milan, who had closed the gap at the summit a day earlier with victory over Torino. 

The Nerazzurri have now failed to win their last three Serie A games (D2 L1), doing so for the first time since a run of five between March and April 2023, under Simone Inzaghi. 

It also saw Inter drop more points from a winning position in the league in 2025-26, with their tally now standing at 12, the sixth-most in the division. 

The Opta supercomputer still heavily backs Inter to lift the Scudetto, with Chivu's side triumphing in 89.3% of season simulations, with Milan (6.2%) and Napoli (4.4%) both given a slight chance of overhauling Inter at the top.

"We knew three points were fundamental, but Fiorentina deserve credit too, for their performance," the Inter assistant told DAZN Italia, as quoted by Football Italia. 

"It wasn't our best game, and we are not in our best period of the season, but we are still six points clear at the top of the table, so it is all in our hands."

After their 1-1 draw against Atalanta last week, Inter have now drawn back-to-back games in a single Serie A season for the first time since the last two matches in 2023-24, which came against Lazio and Hellas Verona when the Scudetto was already won.

But they were perhaps fortunate to leave the Stadio Artemio Franchi with a point, having only registered an expected goals (xG) total of 1.3 from their 12 attempts, compared to Fiorentina's 2.3 from 16 shots at Yann Sommer's net. 

Nicolo Barella had seen an early goal ruled out for offside, while Manuel Akanji and Esposito spurned two glorious opportunities to snatch all three points late on.

"We are lacking some determination and perhaps sharpness too, as fatigue has accumulated over the many games," Kolarov added.

"It was not our best spell of the season. We are used to seeing Inter dominate matches, but we are still six points clear, and it is up to us to kill off the title race.

"I want to point out that when it comes to Inter, people act as if we should take everything for granted.

"You can draw away from home against a strong Fiorentina side, they have been on good form recently, so I see a point here as relatively positive.

"If we are six points clear, it must mean we have done some good things over the course of the season. I understand criticism, but Inter are still the leaders."