Joaquin Correa Delivers Simone Inzaghi and Inter Second Win in a Row

Hellas Verona, Inter, Inter Milan, Serie A, Serie A 2021-2022

A dream debut for Joaquin Correa and three more points for Simone Inzaghi and Inter. The Nerazzurri continue to march ahead on their way as they caught their second Serie A win in a row, beating Verona 3-1 at the Marc’Antonio Bentegodi Stadium on Friday night.  

After brushing aside Genoa in the Serie A opener, Inter were expected to confirm themselves against a scorned Verona, who came from a 2-3 narrow loss to Sassuolo. The Scaligeri ended the first half ahead, but were trampled after the restart by a Lautaro Martinez stunner and a brace from El Tucu, who started from the bench but took less than ten minutes to score his first goals in black-and-blue.

Verona did not disappoint but, after taking advantage of a Samir Handanovic mistake to put their heads ahead and being in control for most of the first half, found themselves with no answer to Inter’s furious comeback. Eusebio Di Francesco’s men are winless in two games and at the bottom of the table with zero points. They are surely worth more than that but will need to change the trend soon.   

For the second game of the season, Di Francesco put his trust on 19-year-old Matteo Cancellieri to spearhead the attack. Other than that, the only additional changes in what was Ivan Juric’s trusted 3-4-2-1 lineup from the past season were former Benevento goalkeeper Lorenzo Montipò and newcomer from Antwerp Martin Hongla.

Simone Inzaghi, on the other hand, recovered Lautaro Martinez and paired him with Edin Dzeko on the front line. El Toro took Stefano Sensi’s place, who was a starter against Genoa. The starting wingbacks were Matteo Darmian, who relegated again newcomer Denzel Dumfries to the bench, and Ivan Perisic.

For the occasion, Inter donned their new – hideous, in our view – second kit and seemed ready to pick up from where they’d left off one week ago. On 12 minutes, a bad clearance from Davide Faraoni offered Lautaro Martinez the chance for a close-range shot, but the Argentine’s effort was brilliantly denied by Montipò.

Things changed soon, though: The Nerazzurri were fast to repay the courtesy as Samir Handanovic came up with a suicidal pass for Marcelo Brozovic in the build-up. Ivan Ilic pounced on the ball to anticipate Brozovic and beat the Slovenian goalkeeper with a fine chip.

Not bad at all, these Gialloblu. Verona had a slow start but, as soon as Ilicic opened the scoring, they gained courage and suffocated Inter with their high pressing. Handanovic suffered no additional threat until half time but Di Francesco’s men gave the impression to be fully in control.

Inter’s only chance in the first half came from a Nicolò Barella header – not exactly the tallest among Inzaghi’s troops at 172 cms – and that says a lot.

Inter were expected to have a different approach in the second half and the tables turned fast indeed. It took only two minutes for them to put things in order. A long-range throw-in from Perisic was deflected by Hongla and the ball ended right on Lautaro Martinez’s cabeza, who could make no mistake from such a short range.

Inter went close to make it 2 on 54 minutes from a very similar setup but, this time, the Argentine’s shot missed the goal target by just a few inches. 

Di Francesco’s reaction resulted in sending in Nicolò Casale for the injured Federico Ceccherini and then a more experienced striker in the name of Kevin Lasagna, replacing the young Cancellieri around the one-hour mark. Simone Inzaghi, who had already sent in Federico Dimarco and Arturo Vidal, threw El Tucu Joaquin Correa in the mix, pulling out his fellow countryman Lautaro.

The Nerazzurri continued to increase the pressure and found their way towards Montipò’s goal multiple times. The most dangerous chance came on 66 minutes as Alessandro Bastoni threatened Montipò with a sharp shot to the bottom right corner, calling the former Benevento man to action and finding him equal to the task. 

Verona eventually capitulated when there were only eight minutes left, torn down by a beautiful team combination. Vidal whipped the ball to the right hand side, Darmian believed in it even though the ball seemed destined past the side line and sent it in the box for El Tucu Correa, whose clinical header left no chance to Montipò. 

Simone Inzaghi run to hug his former Lazio pupil like he used to do in his Biancocelesti days, and the Argentine did him further service as he put the cherry on the top of a sumptuous performance with a deadly left-foot shot during added time to make it 1-3. 

With a bit more struggle than expected, Inter caught the second win in a row and will get into the international break from the top of the Serie A table. So far so good for them, despite an overly troubled summer. 

 

MATCH SCORECARD

August 27, 2021 – Serie A 2021-22 Round 2
VERONA-INTER 1-3

SCORERS: 15′ Ilic (V), 47′ Lautaro Martinez (I), 83′ Correa (I), 94′ Correa

VERONA (3-4-2-1): Montipò; Magnani (75′ Dawidowicz), Gunter, Ceccherini (52′ Casale); Faraoni (76′ Sutalo), Martin (76′ Tameze), Ilic, Lazovic; Barak, Zaccagni; Cancellieri (60′ Lasagna) (Pandur, Berardi, Kalinic, Bessa, Frabotta, Ragusa, Simeone) Coach: Di Francesco
INTER (3-5-2): Handanovic; Skriniar, de Vrij, Bastoni; Darmian, Barella, Brozovic (65′ Vidal), Calhanoglu (88′ Vecino), Perisic (65′ Dimarco); Dzeko (88′ Sensi), Lautaro Martinez (75′ Correa) (Cordaz, Radu, Dumfries, Kolarov, Ranocchia, D’Ambrosio, Satriano) Coach: S. Inzaghi

REFEREE: Mr. Manganiello from Pinerolo
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Magnani, Lautaro Martinez, Brozovic; Added Time: 1st Half 1′, 2nd Half 4′

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