Inter cruised to an emphatic 4-0 victory over Cagliari at the Giuseppe Meazza over the weekend, to overtake Milan atop the Serie A standings. The Nerazzurri dominated Walter Mazzarri’s outfit within an inch of perfection in the second half, with three goals in twenty minutes, after a relatively quiet first half by their standards.
Although Simone Inzaghi’s men scored just four, they created a staggering record of 15 shots on target out of 24 goal attempts. The number of shots on target was a record high for the Nerazzurri – the highest in a league match since 2004/05 i.e. since Opta started collecting match data.
15 – Inter have made 15 shots on target tonight, their record in a #SerieA match since 2004/05 (since Opta collect this data). Unstoppable.#InterCagliari pic.twitter.com/8Dh1W9CSC2
— OptaPaolo ? (@OptaPaolo) December 12, 2021
The Italian champions could have scored much more but encountered a rather brave and resilient performance by Cagliari goalkeeper Alessio Cragno, who put in a Man of the Match display with 11 magnificent saves.
The Italian shotstopper was on the receiving end of four unstoppable goals from Lautaro Martinez (x2), Hakan Calhanoglu and Alexis Sanchez, although he did manage to deny an early Martinez penalty with a wonderful save.
Inter now cruise high on Serie A’s pedestal with 40 points from 17 matches – one point more than 2nd placed Milan and four more than 4th placed Napoli.