Inter broke their negative trend on Saturday night as they came back to winning ways after two domestic losses in a row. Sassuolo were beaten 2-1 at the Mapei Stadium in the curtain-raiser of the Serie A Round 9, courtesy of an Edin Dzeko brace.
Davide Frattesi scored the temporary equalizer for Alessio Dionisi’s Neroverdi, whose winning streak ended after two games.
For Simone Inzaghi and his boys, this was the second win in a row and came after their encouraging toppling of Barcelona in Champions League. It will ignite some confidence in the Nerazzurri as they prepare to travel to the Camp Nou on Wednesday to face the Blaugrana again in the reverse fixture.
Inzaghi made some strategic changes to give resting time to some of his players ahead of the decisive Champions League matchup. Danilo D’Ambrosio and Francesco Acerbi replaced Stefan De Vrij and Alessandro Bastoni at the back, while Kristjan Asslani won a starting spot in midfield. Upfront, Dzeko partnered with Lautaro Martinez as neither Romelu Lukaku nor Joaquin Correa were available.
Between the sticks, André Onana made his Serie A debut and this looked like a clear choice from Inzaghi when it comes to determining who should be the Nerazzurri‘s starting goalkeeper for the rest of the season. The Cameroonian shot-stopper made a couple of good saves to repay his coach’s trust.
Alessio Dionisi deployed his Sassuolo side in a 4-3-3 fashion where central striker and former Inter player Andrea Pinamonti was supported by Emil Ceide and the very promising Armand Laurienté. The latter gave quite a few troubles to the Inter defense, even though the Neroverdi‘s best men proved to be once again Davide Frattesi.
The Azzurri prospect drew level for the home side in the second half after Dzeko had put Inter ahead with a classic header from a corner kick. Frattesi made the best out of a whipping cross by Rogerio that cut across the Nerazzurri‘s area as he anticipated Hakan Calhanoglu and slotted the ball home from point blank range.
However, Sassuolo’s illusions were shut down by again Dzeko, who found his second goal of the day from a perfectly-timed suggestion by Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Inzaghi had sent the Armenian in in the second half, replacing an Asslani who had appeared too little proactive in the first period.
Dzeko served the specialty of the house, a powerful header that left no chance to Andrea Consigli, to set the score at 2-1 for Inter. Just one minute earlier, the Sassuolo goalie had kept his side afloat with a spectacular save from a Lautaro Martinez header.
El Toro‘s scoring drought, which has been going on since August 30 and has now extended for one more game, is perhaps the only piece of bad news for Simone Inzaghi and the Nerazzurri. If Inter want to continue to build on their positive trend, they will definitely need Lautaro’s goals at some point.
MATCH SCORECARD
October 8, 2022 – Serie A 2022-2023 Round 9
SASSUOLO – INTER 1-2
SCORERS: 44′ Dzeko (I), 60′ Frattesi (S), 75′ Dzeko (I)
 |
SASSUOLO (4-3-3): Consigli; Toljan, Erlic (82′ Ayhan), Ferrari (90’ Tressoldi), Rogerio; Frattesi (82′ Alvarez), Maxime Lopez, Thorstvedt (71′ Harroui); Laurienté, Pinamonti, Ceide (71′ Antiste) (Pegolo, Russo, Marchizza, Henrique, Obiang, D’Andrea, Kyriakopoulos) Coach: Dionisi |
 |
INTER (3-5-2): Onana; D’Ambrosio (58′ Skriniar), Acerbi, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella (84′ Gagliardini), Asllani (46′ Mkhitaryan), Calhanoglu, Dimarco; Dzeko, Lautaro Martinez (Handanovic, Botis, De Vrij, Gosens, Bellanova, Darmian, Curatolo, Carboni, Stankovic) Coach: S. Inzaghi |
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Asllani, D’Ambrosio (I), Ferrari, Harroui (S); Added Time: 1st Half 1′, 2nd Half 4′
 |
Follow us on Google News for more updates on Serie A and Italian football |