Inter Milan scored a confidence-boosting 3-0 victory over Sassuolo on Saturday, ending the home side’s unbeaten start in Serie A.
Alexis Sanchez scored early and Vlad Cherich scored an own goal shortly after the lead of Interns doubled. Roberto Gagliardini scored in the second half as Inter scored only their second victory in their past seven matches.
Inter played with fierce coach Antonio Conte who was demanding and Sassuolo could barely see the goal regardless of Philip Uri’s spiral attempt that hit the right post from the outside.
Inter led in second place, tied on points with Sassuolo, but was bettered by goal difference. The match record is the first tiebreak at the end of the season. Both are two points behind AC Milan, who host Fiorentina on Sunday.
Juventus could take a one-point lead over Inter with a win over Benevento later on Saturday. Atalanta also later played against Hellas Verona.
Sassuolo knew he could top off by defeating Inter. The Nerazzurri had been looking to return from their midweek home defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Just like in all Serie A matches this weekend, there was a tribute to Diego Maradona, who died on Wednesday in his native Argentina. This included a minute of silence for the former Napoli player, while his picture was shown again on stadium screens in the tenth minute, in honor of his shirt number.
Inter made their perfect start when Lautaro Martinez intercepted Cherish’s playoffs, who then matched goalkeeper Andrea Consigli. Chiriche is back but Martnez managed to pass it through Snchez’s easiest goals.
The guests doubled their lead after 10 minutes when a corner kick came from the left flank of Arturo Vidal and bounced a cross from the Chiriche and joined the bottom right corner.
Chiriche’s day turned from bad to worse as he walked out with a suspected hamstring injury at the end of the first half.
Inter finished the score every hour with a superb shot in the lower left corner of Jagliardini, after a cross by Matteo Darmian.
Conte had rested Romelu Lukaku and put the striker in in the last 11 minutes. That was enough time for him to find the back of the grid, but was ruled out for offside.
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