Fiorentina snatch win over Inter in fight for 3rd in Serie A

Substitute Khouma Babacar scored in stoppage time to give Fiorentina a controversial 2-1 win over 10-man Inter Milan in the battle for third place in Serie A, while AC Milan boosted its bid for the final Champions League spot with a 2-1 win over Genoa on Sunday.

Fiorentina moved up to third, two points above Roma and four above Inter.

Milan is sixth, six points behind Fiorentina, after Keisuke Honda scored one goal and helped set up another as his side extended its unbeaten streak to seven matches.

In Florence, Borja Valero cancelled out Marcelo Brozovic's opener for Inter and Babacar scored the winner just minutes after coming on, following a harsh second yellow card for Inter's Alex Telles.

Fiorentina forward Mauro Zarate was then sent off in stoppage time for grabbing Jeison Murillo by the back of the neck, while Inter midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia was shown a red card after the final whistle for sarcastically applauding the referee.

It was a better day for Inter's city rival, with Milan going seven matches unbeaten for the first time since April 2013.

"If we continue like this we can fight for a Champions League spot," Milan manager Sinisa Mihajlovic said.

Also Sunday, Torino won 3-1 at Palermo as Ciro Immobile scored twice; Bologna won 1-0 at Udinese with a late goal from Mattia Destro; and Sampdoria and Atalanta drew 0-0.

On Saturday, four-time defending champion Juventus beat Napoli 1-0 to move one point ahead of the southern club atop the standings.

Fiorentina started the brighter and only Telles' goalline clearance prevented Josip Ilicic from firing the home side in front.

But it was Inter that took the lead in the 26th minute, against the run of play, when Rodrigo Palacio pulled the ball back for the unmarked Brozovic to fire into the roof of the net.

Fiorentina leveled on the hour when Murillo could only nod Ilicic's cross on for Valero to meet with a diving header into the bottom left corner.

The home fans called for a penalty four minutes later after a handball by Telles, but the referee waved the players' appeals away.

It was Inter's turn next to be angered by a refereeing decision when Telles was shown a second yellow card and sent off in the 82nd minute. Television replays showed he got the ball in his challenge on Federico Bernardeschi.

Babacar netted the winner three minutes and 53 seconds after coming off the bench. Samir Handanovic spilled a snapshot by Zarate and, although Babacar had one attempt on the rebound flapped away by the goalkeeper, the Senegal forward scored at the second time of asking.

At San Siro, a cross from Honda led to Carlos Bacca's opener after five minutes. The Japan international then scored midway through the second half with a long, bouncing shot from 25 meters (yards) that appeared to surprise goalkeeper Mattia Perin.

It was Honda's first league goal of the season, while Bacca has a team-high 13 goals.

Midfielder Riccardo Montolivo nearly made it 3-0 with a similarly long effort that bounced off the post.

Alessio Cerci pulled one back for Genoa in added time.

Mario Balotelli replaced Bacca in the 88th and Mihajlovic appeared angry at Balotelli when Milan risked conceding a potential equalizer in the closing minutes.

"We've got to finish these matches off," Mihajlovic said. "We should have scored a third goal and instead we were risking it. But it's also my fault. From now on, whoever won't sacrifice themselves until the 94th minute won't put their foot on the pitch again."