Simone Inzaghi has heaped praise on summer signing Hakan Calhanoglu as Inter ran riot at the Giuseppe Meazza against Genoa in their Serie A curtain-raiser. The defending champions swept Il Grifone aside with an overwhelming 4-0 victory at the beginning of the new season as the Turk playmaker made the headlines.
Calhanoglu and Edin Dzeko were spot on against Genoa, propelling new boss Inzaghi to a landslide victory as Inter showed they mean business this season despite a turbulent summer.
In his first competitive game for Inter since joining the club from bitter city rivals Milan, Calhanoglu found the net and laid on an assist to fire his new employers to a comfortable win.
The Turkey international whipped in a perfect corner-kick delivery headed in by Milan Skriniar six minutes into the game to put the Nerazzurri in front. Only eight minutes later, Calhanoglu hammered home a devastating long-range effort to put clear daylight between the sides and announce himself to the new crowd.
In the post-match interview, Inzaghi hailed Calhanoglu’s performance as he finally got the opportunity to coach the player who ’caused him problems’ in the past.
“Hakan Calhanoglu is a great player, he combines quality and quantity, he raced a lot, but it would be reductive to talk only about him,” he said, as relayed by FCInterNews.
“Calhanoglu is a player that Marotta and Ausilio wanted, every time I played against him he caused me problems. We have the great fortune to sign him, he has inserted himself well.
“In my opinion, he still has margins to improve and grow because he is young and still doesn’t know how good he is.”
Dzeko, who also arrived this summer from Roma, set up Calhanoglu with a nice little lay-off. The Bosnian marked his Serie A debut for Inter with a sublime header in the dying moments of the encounter to seal Genoa’s fate in Lombardy.
In the absence of last season’s heroes, Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez, Inzaghi’s side looked as sharp and hungry as did they under Antonio Conte.