Inter continued their Scudetto celebrations by earning a 5-1 win over Sampdoria at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in Serie A on Saturday.
The Nerazzurri were crowned champions last weekend and took to the pitch for the first time since their triumph, with an early Roberto Gagliardini goal setting the tone for their outing.
Alexis Sanchez netted a brace for a much-changed Inter side, either side of Keita Balde’s goal for Sampdoria, whilst substitute Andrea Pinamonti scored his first of the season in the second half. The party atmosphere intensified as Lautaro Martinez rifled in a penalty to secure a heavy win.
With the pressure off after their title triumph, Inter made a blistering start to the match and were ahead after only five minutes. A rapid exchange allowed Achraf Hakimi to spread the ball wide to Ashley Young and his cut back was tucked home by Gagliardini.
Hakimi almost doubled the advantage early in the half after racing forward from the halfway line and riding a challenge, before forcing Emil Audero into a fingertip save with a curling effort.
Inter were soon two goals up though and it came through Sanchez, although Gagliardini was again instrumental in it’s creation. The midfielder broke from deep and drew Sampdoria’s defenders towards him, creating space to flick the ball into the path of Sanchez and allowing the Chilean to fire in.
Sampdoria hit back shortly after the half-hour mark through ex-Inter winger Balde as he rifled in a follow up, after goalkeeper Samir Handanovic had shown good reactions to keep out Antonio Candreva on the line.
Yet the deficit was only halved for little more than a minute as Inter charged up the other end and Sanchez netted his brace. The former Manchester United forward met a low Hakimi cross on the edge of the box with a side-footed effort to fire in, with the help of a slight deflection.
Inter started the second half well and centre-back Andrea Ranocchia forced a save at the near post with a spectacular overhead kick.
Sampdoria were enjoying a spell of possession and were a threat from out wide, but were undone on the hour as substitutes Nicolo Barella and Pinamonti combined.
The former made his impact felt immediately after entering the fray by bravely winning possession and chipping a pass for Pinamonti to bring down and fire in.
Inter were in devastating form and piled further misery on their visitors when Barella’s shot struck Adrien Silva’s hand in the box, allowing Martinez to drill into the top corner from the penalty spot.
