Lukaku cannonball leads Inter to victory; horror night for Tressoldi


Saturday, May 13, 2023 at 10:41 PM• Jonathan van Haaster • Last update: 22:45

Internazionale has done what it had to do at home in the battle for a place in the top four in Serie A. The team of coach Simone Inzaghi took a 3-0 lead against Sassuolo and saw the visitors come back well, after which Romelu Lukaku came right back. before time closed the game: 4-2. The Belgian provided peace in a particularly beautiful way before the opening goal. Ruan Tressoldi had an evening to forget. The Brazilian from Sassuolo scored two own goals, although the goal came in the name of Lautaro Martínez in his second unfortunate moment. Inter takes third place from Lazio and is five points ahead of fifth-placed AC Milan.

On the side of Inter, several strong holders were rested by Inzaghi with a view to the return in the semi-finals of the Champions League against AC Milan. For example, the coach decided to keep Denzel Dumfries, Alessandro Bastoni, Nicolò Barella, Martínez, Edin Dzeko and André Onana on the bench, among others. It meant that Stefan de Vrij, just like Ángel Correa and Lukaku, among others, was assigned a starting place. At Sassuolo, Abdou Harroui had to settle for a reserve role. Base places are rare for the former stronghold of Sparta Rotterdam.

Sassuolo was the most convincing team in the opening phase of the first half. It soon seemed to lead to Domenico Berardi’s 0-1, whose goal was eventually disallowed due to offside by the principal, Armand Laurienté. A goal was also rejected on the other side, this time by Correa after Federico Dimarco was offside. Via Matheus Henrique, Sassuolo came close to the opening goal, but his header went wide. The visitors’ biggest chance came just before the break. Berardi cut himself beautifully and lost to Davide Frattesi, who placed his excellent shooting opportunity from the edge of sixteen in the hands of Samir Handanovic. It turned out to be a costly miss: on the other hand, Danilo D’Ambrosio brought the ball to Lukaku, who created some space and lashed out devastatingly: 1-0.

Inter immediately insisted after the break. Substitute Martínez saw his shot go wide, while Dimarco’s volley was barely stopped. Nevertheless, Inter managed to strike twice before the hour mark. First of all, Tressoldi worked the ball into his own goal and also on the third goal in Nerazzurri there was enough luck. Martínez shot from the edge of sixteen against the feet of Tressoldi, who was again the schlemiel: 3-0. However, the productive phase was not over yet, although this time it was Sassuolo that struck. Berardi painted the ball on the head of Matheus Henrique, who left Handanovic without a chance: 3-1.

Sassuolo then had two huge opportunities at more. First of all, Frattesi tapped the ball very close into the hands of Handanovic, who saw in the ensuing attack that Nedim Bajrami shot centimeters wide. However, Sassuolo did not give up and was rewarded fifteen minutes before the end. Rogério deposited the ball on the head of Frattesi, who hit the target: 3-2. Inter staggered and Sassuolo smelled blood, but was unable to pull the trigger and got the lid on the nose just before time. Lukaku, quite invisible in the second half, received a custom pass from Marcelo Brozovic and found the far corner: 4-2.

No. Team m W G v +/- Pnt
1 Naples 34 26 5 3 47 83
2 Juventus 34 20 6 8 24 66
3 Lazio 35 19 8 8 26 65
4 Internazionale 34 20 3 11 27 63
5 AC Milan 35 17 10 8 14 61
6 AS Roma 34 17 7 10 12 58
7 Atlanta 35 17 7 11 14 58
8 Florence 34 12 10 12 5 46
9 Udinese 34 11 13 10 4 46
10 bologna 34 12 10 12 -1 46
11 Monza 34 12 10 12 -3 46
12 Torino 34 12 10 12 -3 46
13 Sassuolo 34 12 8 14 -9 44
14 Empoli 34 9 11 14 -13 38
15 Salernitana 35 8 14 13 -13 38
16 Lecce 35 7 11 17 -13 32
17 Hellas Verona 34 7 9 18 -23 30
18 Spezia 35 6 12 17 -26 30
19 Cremonese 34 4 12 18 -28 24
20 Sampdoria 34 3 8 23 -41 17