Inter survive late comeback scare to edge seven-goal thriller

Date: 20th October 2019 at 2:24pm
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MAPEI STADIUM (Reggio Emilia) – Traditions were broken, spells were ended, others continued, nine goals were scored – seven counted – and paragliders were landing on the pitch in an uncharacteristically eventful Serie A lunch match as Inter beat Sassuolo 4-3 on Sunday.

Romelu Lukaku bagged twice after Lautaro Martinez and Domenico Berardi got things underway as the Nerazzurri ended a five-game winless run against the Neroverdi. The Argentinian got his own brace later on before Filip Djuricic and Jeremie Boga almost inspired Sassuolo to a comeback.

Sassuolo hadn’t even clicked into gear before Inter took the lead. Martinez shifted onto his right foot on the edge of the box and whipped a perfectly-placed strike into Andrea Consigli’s far corner after just a minute.

El Toro should have made it two as well. He got on the wrong side of Sassuolo’s backline but when faced with Consigli from close range he fired wide.

Berardi made him pay five minutes later as his hot streak this season continued, as did his impressive record against the Nerazzurri. He strolled past Cristiano Biraghi down the right flank and drove low across Samir Handanovic into the bottom corner for his fifth goal in eight games against Inter and sixth of the season.

Inter thought they had retaken the lead ten minutes later through Lautaro, but Lukaku was deemed to have fouled Federico Peluso as the ball made its way across goal.

Francesco Caputo then had his own goal ruled out as he was thwarted by the offside flag after nicely slotting in a tidy finish.

Federico Peluso had done well in his battle with Lukaku until the No.9 got the better of him on 37 minutes. Picking up a Stefan de Vrij ball with his back to goal, the Belgian turned, shrugged the centre-back onto his backside and hit low across Consigli to put Antonio Conte’s side ahead again.

Inter were handed a penalty before the break and, just as Lukaku was waiting to take it, a paraglider swept down over the away support and landed in the middle of the pitch. Not fazed, though, Lukaku rolled into Consigli’s left as he went right.

Another penalty was gifted to the visitors when Nicolo Barella was hacked down, allowing Lautaro to grab his second of the day

Djuricic pulled one back with 15 minutes to play, breathing some life into Roberto De Zerbi’s men.

Boga produced some excellence to cut the deficit to one. He mazed through the Inter defence from deep and picked out the bottom corner, making for a tense final ten minutes.

 

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