Rome: Inter is preparing in the best way for what awaits it on Tuesday against its Spanish guest, Atletico Madrid, in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final, with its great victory over its last guest, Salernitana, 4-0, on Friday, in the twenty-sixth stage of the Italian football league.
With its eighth victory in a row, including two in the Italian Super Cup, which it won, and six in the league, coach Simone Inzaghi’s team moved away from the lead by 10 points from its pursuers, Juventus, who are visiting Verona on Saturday, looking to regain their balance after two successive defeats to the Nerazzurri in particular and Udinese. With one score 0 – 1.
Inzaghi’s team is experiencing a wonderful season, as it has only tasted defeat in the league once, dating back to September 27, at home against Sassuolo (1-2), making it a strong candidate to win the title for the twentieth time in its history.
What increases Inter’s chances is that it also has a postponed match to play on the 28th at home against Atalanta.
And against a team falling to the bottom of the standings, which prompted them last Sunday to abandon their coach, Filippo Inzaghi, Simone’s brother, and seek the help of Fabio Liverani, Inter did not find any difficulty similar to the first leg, when they won it with a clean 4-0 also scored by Argentine Lautaro Martinez, who was on target on Friday as well. .
Lautaro and Thuram are on time
Inzaghi returned to the team after missing the 4-2 victory over Roma in the last stage due to the accumulation of warnings, and the match began with Lautaro and Frenchman Marcos Thuram starting, despite what awaits the team on Tuesday against Atletico.
Inter was the best from the beginning and came close to opening the scoring early, but Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa excelled on several occasions and also received help from the right post, which blocked a follow-up by Thuram (3), and the crossbar, which interfered in the face of Nicolo Barella’s missile shot (6).
The pressure eventually resulted in two goals within less than two minutes, the first through Thuram (17) and the second through Lautaro (19), with two passes from Brazilian Carlos Augusto, bringing the first to 20 goals at the top of the scorers’ standings and the second to 10 goals.
Thus, Lautaro became the third player to score 20 or more goals for Inter in the league during three consecutive seasons, after Giuseppe Meazza (5 consecutive seasons between 1929-1930 and 1933-1934), Hungarian Istvan Niersz (4 consecutive seasons between 1948-1949 and 1951-1952), and Thuram. Only the second Frenchman to score 10 or more goals for Inter in the league after Youri Djorkaeff, who scored 14 in 33 matches in the 1996-1997 season, according to Opta statistics.
Salernitana suffered a blow after that, with the injury of its new German defender, Jerome Boateng, who left the field in the 24th minute in favor of Giulio Madgiore.
Inter ended the first half with a third goal, scored by Dutchman Denzil Dumfries, to whom the ball fell after Ochoa intercepted a cross from Barella, so he followed it into an empty net (40).
After he was assured of the result, Inzaghi decided in the 60th minute to remove the trio of Lautaro, Thuram, and Armenian Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and then the Turkish Hakan Calhanoglu (66) and Bastoni (77), without this affecting his absolute control until he scored the fourth goal in the final seconds through the Austrian substitute. Marko Arnautovic after a cross from Dumfries (90).
2024-02-16 22:57:08
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