This time there was no goalkeeping howler to pinpoint, no Ionut Radu to scapegoat.

Unlike three years ago, a damaging defeat in Bologna is unlikely to be viewed as the single moment that cost Inter the Scudetto.

But it did highlight a weakness that could be looked back on as decisive should they fail in their quest to become the first team in five years to successfully defend the Serie A title: their wobbly late-season away form.

For a long time, this was not an issue. Inter were unbeaten in 11 away league matches from the start of the season, including a rampant eight-match winning run between September and January in which they kept seven consecutive clean sheets.

But since their disastrous rearranged fixture with Fiorentina in February, things have unravelled badly. On the road, they have gone from feeling a little woozy to suffering full-blown travel sickness in the last two months.

The calamitous display in that 3-0 defeat at the Stadio Artemio Franchi was a surprise to everyone and it was followed by a 1-0 Derby d’Italia setback against Juventus in their next match away from their own patch.

A draw at title rivals Napoli and victory in Bergamo against Atalanta suggested things were on the right track again, but it was a false dawn.

Perhaps the most spectacular example of Inter’s away-day woes came in Parma at the start of April, where the champions raced to a 2-0 lead by the break, only to be pegged back to 2-2 by the relegation battlers before almost losing it at the death.

In that context, it should not have been a surprise to see Simone Inzaghi’s men struggle on Sunday against a Champions League-chasing Bologna side who have made the Renato Dall’Ara one of the peninsula’s most formidable fortresses this season.

It was a typical high-pressure match, with little quality on show in a contest littered with petty fouls, raised tempers – with Bologna coach Vincenzo Italiano and Inter assistant Massimiliano Farris sent off – and an abundance of individual errors that made a stop-start game tough to watch.

Long before Riccardo Orsolini elegantly leapt into the air to scissor-kick home an extraordinary stoppage-time winner, it had felt like a game that could only be decided by one elusive moment of quality.

Inter rarely looked capable of providing it, as a team featuring nine of the 11 players that had knocked Bayern Munich out of the Champions League just a few days before struggled to reach their best level. 

A blip has now become a theme. The collapse in Florence was their heaviest defeat in any competition, home or away, since losing 4-1 at Napoli six years ago.

Inter have picked up six points from a possible 21 in their last seven away games in Serie A with a run of one win, three draws and three defeats.

Of course, the demands of a Treble bid are tough. The Bologna game was Inter’s 50th of the season, already a higher tally than all of 2023-24.

Clearly, this is a question of focus and energy as much as anything, as away from home in European competition, the Nerazzurri defeated Feyenoord and Bayern Munich in their two Champions League knockout ties.

But this run threatens to cost Inzaghi’s men dearly. The one thing they can be grateful for is that Napoli have done little better – their unconvincing and narrow victory over Monza on Saturday ended a five-match winless run on the road. 

Still, the Partenopei have two wins, four draws and one defeat in their last seven away games, picking up 10 points to go level at the top with Inter and set up a grandstand finish to the season with five games to go.

Inzaghi has understandably called for calm. “The season doesn’t end here in Bologna. If we analyse the game well it can give us a push,” said the coach. “We have a lot of objectives ahead of us. We need to be calm, patient. The players must stay calm.”

After all, losing to this slick Bologna side at the Dall’Ara is no disgrace, even for a team of Inter’s calibre.

Italiano’s side sit third in the Serie A home form table, three points behind Inter and two behind Napoli.

Their one league defeat on home turf came with 10 men against Verona in December, while they thrashed Lazio 5-0 recently and have taken the scalps of Milan and Fiorentina, too, not to mention Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.

Inter will now dust themselves down and prepare for a fifth Derby della Madonnina of the season in midweek when they take on AC Milan in the Coppa Italia semi-final second leg with the aggregate score poised at 1-1.

With Marcus Thuram, Piotr Zielinski and Denzel Dumfries “hopefully back soon” according to Inzaghi, the champions’ stocks could be replenished for the run-in.

Their away-day woes have been brutally exposed in the last few weeks, but one relief to Interisti will be the knowledge that they only have to travel two more times before the curtain falls on the campaign.

Four of Inter’s next five games in all competitions are at home, the exception being a trip to Barcelona. Short journeys to Torino and Como come either side of hosting Lazio.

While neither trip is likely to be easy, they are far from daunting fixtures. Torino’s home record is the 13th-best in Serie A (1.4 points per game), and Como’s the 10th-best (1.44).

However, with the two sides sitting 10th and 13th in the table, respectively, far from the European spots but safe from relegation, they will have little left to play for other than pride and the chance to bloody the nose of a title contender.

Be that as it may, Inter must find a cure for their travel sickness. Orsolini’s wonder goal won’t be the moment that lost them the title no matter what happens, but it did turn the spotlight on a recurring theme that needs to be addressed before it’s too late.

Alasdair Mackenzie is freelance sports reporter working and living in Rome. Follow him on X – @aksmackenzie