Miguel Veloso's equaliser for the hosts four minutes from time meant Inter failed to reclaim third place in Serie A from Atalanta, who jumped ahead following their ninth straight win, against struggling Sampdoria, on Wednesday.

The Nerazzurri were left one point behind Atalanta, although still with a safe cushion of 14 points ahead of fifth-place Roma and a solid hold on the final Champions League place.

Verona, who won a promotion play off after finishing fifth in Serie B last season, have exceeded expectations this campaign and are in ninth place.

The home side took an early lead through Darko Lazovic, who dribbled around Milan Skriniar to score from a tight angle.

Antonio Candreva levelled shortly after the break by converting the rebound after a Romelu Lukaku shot hit the post.

Inter went ahead minutes later when Verona fullback Federico Dimarco, who is on loan from the Milan club, scored an own goal, but Veloso equalised with a low shot in the 86th minute.

"I am happy to have scored against a great team," Veloso said.

"My task is to help my teammates since the main thing is to play as a group.

"Our goal was to avoid relegation. But now we want to get the maximum points we can, then we will see where we are at the end."

Earlier, Udinese took a step toward safety with a 3-0 win at last-place Spal.

Rodrigo De Paul, Stefano Okaka and Kevin Lasagna scored for the visitors, who moved up to 14th and eight points above the drop zone.

Australian Associated Press