Edin Dzeko scored a vital second-half goal to catapult Inter to a massive 1-0 home victory over Serie A pacesetters Napoli on Wednesday night. Last season’s runners-up knocked the Partenopei down from a 15-match unbeaten league streak to change the complexity of the Scudetto race.
The World Cup break may have halted Inter’s free-flowing nine-goal across two Serie A outings (W2), yet Simone Inzaghi’s men knew anything other than victory would effectively rule them out of the Scudetto race. With 11 points separating the sides ahead of the kick-off, the Nerazzurri, who welcomed Romelu Lukaku back to the starting line-up for the first time since August, were out seeking a miracle.
On the other hand, keen to maintain their astounding 15-game unbeaten Serie A start (W13, D2), Napoli took the field to avenge a four-match losing top-flight streak at Meazza. With Milan beating Salernitana 2-1 earlier in the day to reduce the gap to five points, Luciano Spalletti’s side could’ve felt the defending champions breathing down their necks.
As expected, Napoli assumed control of possession from the get-go, but Inter landed the first blow through Federico Dimarco. The attacking-minded left-back picked up a pass from Lukaku and unleashed a strike into the side netting from close range. While tempo and determination from both sides weren’t in short supply, Dimarco’s effort was the only meaningful takeaway in the opening 20 minutes of play.
Composure was the missing component in both camps early on, as both sides committed numerous rookie errors while trying to build from the back. Inter seemed to have flourished in those scrappy circumstances. Lukaku evaded his marker and found Dzeko, who laid off the ball to Matteo Darmian inside the Napoli box. However, the right-back skied his first-time effort well over the crossbar from point-blank.
Napoli’s first concrete attack came at the half-hour mark. Mathias Olivera picked out Piotr Zielinski on the edge of the box. But even though he was completely unmarked, the Poland international embarrassed himself with a wayward finish. Zielinski’s abysmal effort perhaps best illustrated the visitors’ thoroughly underwhelming first-half performance. Indeed, it was arguably their weakest half in Serie A this season.
Meanwhile, Inter could only blame themselves for missing out on a first-half lead. Lukaku broke one-on-one with Alex Meret in the 40th minute but failed to hit the target with his weaker right foot. Only moments later, Dimarco inexplicably allowed the Napoli goalkeeper to deny him just a few meters out.
Napoli opened the second half on the front foot as Victor Osimhen found himself in a perfect position to open the scoring. However, Andre Onana made an excellent save to deny the Serie A top goalscorer. Little did the Nigerian striker know Inter would punish his miss only a few minutes later.
Dimarco may have wasted a couple of chances in the first half, but he redeemed himself by setting up Dzeko on a silver platter. The Bosnian sent a routine header into the net to give Inter a well-deserved lead in the 56th minute.
Faced with the first league loss in 2022/23, Napoli tried to reply through standout winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who had a quiet game by his standards. The Georgian zig-zagged past his markers but failed to generate enough power and accuracy as his effort went well off the left post.
Time was ticking out as Napoli struggled to create anything worth mentioning in the front third, helping Inter hold onto a narrow lead almost effortlessly. Inzaghi made all five substitutions in the second half in an effort to kill off the pace of the match, which worked out wonderfully.
As for Spalletti, he hoped to shake his side up a bit by introducing Hirving Lozano and Giacomo Raspadori just after the hour mark. But it was in vain, as neither substitute influenced the game, forcing the Napoli boss to reach out to the bench again.
There was a feeling that Spalletti could’ve subbed Giovanni Simeone earlier. His introduction in the 85th minute put more squeeze on Inter’s backline, opening up space for Raspadori, whose thunderous effort from inside the box was miraculously denied by Onana’s last-ditch save in the 90th minute.
 |
Follow us on Google News for more updates on Serie A and Italian football |