ENOUGH HAPPENED IN THESE final 15 minutes to decide the fate of the Serie A title race. But by the time this wild chain of events came to a conclusion, the day somehow ended just as it began.

It kicked off in the 88th minute of Inter's topsy-turvy clash against Lazio. The benches erupted as referee Daniele Chiffi ran over to review a potential handball in the penalty area. Inter defender Yann Bisseck was accused of leaning in with his arm to block Taty Castellanos' effort to control the ball. Even though Bisseck had his hand tucked behind his back, replays showed he moved his arm enough to obstruct with play.

Lazio coach Marco Barone and Inter counterpart Simone Inzaghi were both out of their technical areas when Chiffi approached the pitchside monitor. As they were interfering with his ability to make a decision and causing an overall commotion, Chiffi sent off both of them. The penalty was confirmed and Pedro stepped up to level the score at 2-2. Inter twice had the lead in this game, and twice it evaporated.

So too did their lead in the standings. Inter had moved up to 80 points when they were winning — one more than Napoli as they toiled for a goal in Parma.

Napoli were struggling to create meaningful chances. All the away fans could cheer were the updates they received on their phones. News of Pedro's equalizer reverberated through the Tardini like word of the pope's arrival, leading fans to light up flares, hop around, and share the score with others. There was enough to rejoice: Napoli's one-point lead atop the standings had been restored. Inter had dropped back down to 78.

Napoli boss Antonio Conte screamed for calm. But he was unable to keep his own head when he noticed Parma manager Cristian Chivu lobbying for less time added on. Referee Daniele Doveri immediately ran toward the sideline with red card in hand, and just like that, Conte and Chivu were gone as well. Romelu Lukaku and members of Napoli's coaching staff restrained Conte as he made his way down the tunnel.

Napoli's search for a winner ran parallel to Inter's as both games entered second-half stoppage time virtually in sync. To maximize fairness — and perhaps juice the potential for dramatic momentum swings — Lega Serie A organized all but one match to kick off at the same time Sunday evening.

Francesco Acerbi was leading Inter's chase just as he had done in the Champions League semifinal win over Barcelona. So it wasn't shocking to see 37-year-old center-back cushion a header toward Marko Arnautovic in the penalty area. What was shocking was Arnautovic's subsequent miss from point-blank range.

By then, Inter and Lazio were in the 94th minute, right around the time Napoli thought they may have won a penalty of their own. "WAS HE CAUGHT?" commentator Patrick Kendrick hollered as Parma's Mathias Fjortoft Lovik stuck out his leg to stop Napoli winger David Neres from cutting inside. The answer was yes, but the question was whether Neres' teammate, Giovanni Simeone, had fouled a Parma player in the build-up.

As the video assistant referee reviewed the footage from that game, Chiffi and his linemen watched closely as Arnautovic headed in what could've been Inter's winning goal at the Meazza. But Chiffi only needed a quick VAR check to rule the goal offside. Arnautovic straddled just off as Carlos Augusto headed Joaquin Correa's cross into the six-yard box. You could hear the collective excitement seep out of the stadium in Milan.

The VAR check at Parma was taking much longer to complete. It was time worth taking. A penalty, if converted, promised to give Napoli the luxury of a three-point lead with one game to go. If Lazio had somehow managed to score late, the combination would've won Napoli the Scudetto then and there.

Doveri headed to the pitchside monitor to review the foul, which Parma didn't seem to notice in real time. It looked like a simple coming together between Simeone and Parma defender Alessandro Circati as they jockeyed for possession. But there was enough contact. The Tardini exploded as Doveri called back the penalty. Lost in the theater of the title race was Parma's own battle against relegation. A draw here offered them a two-point cushion over 18th-placed Empoli ahead of the final round of fixtures.

And so it ended. Inter and Napoli accomplished so much to achieve so little. Napoli arrived with a one-point lead and left with the same advantage over Inter. If anything, they have a little less than they had before: With Inzaghi and Conte suspended for Friday's title-deciding matches, neither Inter nor Napoli will have their coach on the sidelines.

Inter boycotted their usual post-game media duties over the controversial call that allowed Lazio to equalize. The club had already objected to the very presence of Marco Guido, one of the video assistant referees on duty. Guida was born in Pompei, from the province of Naples, and his wife and three children live in the city itself.

But unlike their famous comeback against Barcelona, Inter wasted a chance to retake control of the title race. That was their own doing.

"It's not a question of fatigue, as in the final 10 minutes, after Lazio made it 2-2, they were running around like crazy," former AC Milan and Juventus manager Fabio Capello wrote in La Gazzetta dello Sport. "No, it's a mental thing. Probably the desire to save energy, thinking subconsciously about the Champions League final, or the fear of a muscular injury ... made the team pull in their oars."