Icardi gives Inter the perfect start against horrible Fiorentina

Icardi gives Inter the perfect start against horrible Fiorentina

Date: 20th August 2017 at 10:43pm
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Inter comfortably demolished Fiorentina 3-0 in their opening Serie A game at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on Sunday night.

The Inter fans at the San Siro gave Stefano Pioli a warm welcome, but Mauro Icardi immediately made the night worse for their former coach by opening the scoring six minutes in. Then, just nine minutes later, it was Icardi again to make it 2-0. Late in the second half Ivan Perisic ended it with the third.

As early as four minutes into the game, referee Paolo Tagliavento gave the Nerazzurri a penalty which Icardi coolly slotted home, to make it 1-0.

Then Inter were all over la Viola with ex Fiorentina man Matias Vecino missing the easiest of chances. Inter were all over Fiorentina, with Marcelo Brozovic also going close to scoring, and the viola never looking like they could do anything.

Icardi was again on target to double Inter’s lead with a lovely header to fire home Perisic’s perfect cross.

VAR was then called for a possible penalty for a foul by Joao Miranda on Giovanni Simeone, but the referee opted not to give the spot kick after consultation.

A Simeone header was all Fiorentina produced in the first 45 minutes, in a disappointing opening half.

In the second period Fiorentina tried to cause the Nerazzurri some trouble with Khouma Babacar – who came on for Simeone – forcing Samir Handanovic into a lovely save.

La Viola collected a series of corner kicks, but were unable to make the most of them, while Inter tried to break on the counter, but were too often imprecise when it came to the final ball.

The chance to reopen the game for Fiorentina came on 33 minutes, when Jordan Veretout struck to hit the post, but just moments later Perisic put the game to bed with the third, thanks to a wonderful Joao Mario cross.

A standing ovation for Icardi when he was substituted was the icing on the cake for Inter and their captain.

MATCH FACTS

  • Inter kept a clean sheet after 13 Serie A games in which they had always conceded.
  • The Nerazzurri have won their first seasonal Serie A match for the 4th time in the last six years (D1 L1).
  • Fiorentina have lost on MD1 in three of their last four Serie A campaigns (W1).
  • Fiorentina have conceded 2 or more goals in each of their last nine Serie A games.
  • Mauro Icardi has scored seven goals in his last three Serie A clashes with Fiorentina.
  • Fiorentina are Icardi’s favourite target in Serie A: nine goals.
  • Icardi has scored 2 or more goals in 16 of the 126 Serie A games played for Inter (13 braces, 3 hat-tricks).
  • Ivan Perisic has now delivered 15 assists in Serie A, nine of which were for Icardi.
  • Perisic has both scored and delivered an assist in each of his last two appearances against Fiorentina in Serie A
  • The last time Inter scored their first Serie A goal of the season from the penalty spot was in 2009/10 (Eto’o vs Bari).

 

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