Internazionale thrashes Lecce and continues in the fight for leadership
Facing a technically inferior opponent, who is fighting against relegation, the on-form Inter Milan had no difficulty in thrashing Lecce 4-0 at the Via del Mare stadium this Sunday, in the 22nd round of the Italian Championship, extending their unbeaten streak to 16 matches in the competition, with 13 wins.
With the result, the Italian league’s second-placed side now has 50 points and is now just three points behind Napoli, with one game less than the leader. Lecce, on the other hand, has just 20 points, on the edge of the relegation zone.
With the ball rolling, it took just 6 minutes for Frattesi to open the scoring for the visitors, tapping the ball into the empty net after receiving a pass from Marcus Thuram. Carlos Augusto, former Corinthians full-back, scored in the 25th minute, but had the goal disallowed after a VAR review. It was up to Lautaro Martínez, in the 39th minute, to extend the lead with a powerful shot from outside the area.
Inter continued to press in the second half, keeping the hosts in their own half. In the 12th minute, Dumfries found the bottom left corner of goal past Falcone to make it 3-0 for Simone Inzaghi’s side.
Dejected on the field and without any power to react, Lecce tried to avoid an even more elastic score. The home team was not successful in this, as Taremi, four minutes later, converted a penalty committed by Falcone, making it 4-0 and giving the final score to the match.
MILAN TURNS
Milan and Parma entered the pitch at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium ready to rehabilitate themselves. It was better for Milan, who sought to equalize twice and, with two goals scored in injury time, turned the score around to 3-2.
Coach Sérgio Conceição’s team ended a two-match winless streak in the competition and reached 34 points in the table, taking seventh place – they could still be overtaken by Fiorentina. Parma, in turn, maintained their 20 points and are in 16th place.
Coming from a draw with Cagliari and a defeat to Juventus, Milan showed a greater volume of play and was superior in the first half. Despite dominating and pressing in the attacking half, the home team came up against the yellow team’s block and only managed to finish on goal in the 22nd minute, when Rafael Leão sent the ball over the goal line.
At 23, however, the punishment came. In their first attack, Parma launched a counterattack, Valeri switched the play to Cancellieri on the right and the striker took advantage of a slip by Theo Hernandéz to advance alone and hit a shot into the right corner of goalkeeper Maignan: 1-0.
Milan’s response was swift. Soon after, Morata had a shot saved by Suzuki and a goal disallowed for offside. In the 34th minute, the Parma goalkeeper pushed Pavlovic in the penalty area and, from the penalty spot, Pulisic hit the left corner to equalize the score. Reijnders almost turned the game around in the final minutes, but Suzuki saved the cross-shot.
During the break, the San Siro screen showed an image of tennis player Jannik Sinner, a Milan fan, with the Australian Open trophy won a little earlier, being applauded by the fans present in the stadium.
On the field, Sérgio Conceição’s team took a while to be inspired by the victorious tennis player and the second half started slowly and without creativity from either team. Milan accelerated the match towards the end, but another defensive error, this time when releasing the ball, allowed Parma to regain the lead on the scoreboard. At 34, Camara advanced on the left, played a one-two and shot across goal, but Maignan made a good save, but Del Prato took advantage of the rebound and pushed it into the net.
Milan launched an attack in the final minutes to try to at least equalize. In the 42nd minute, Pavlovic even found the net with a header, but the goal was disallowed by the VAR review. In the 46th minute, however, Reijnders received a great pass from Musah in the area and touched the ball into the left corner of Suzuki’s goal to equalize. In the 49th minute, Chukwueze took advantage of the rebound in the area and, on his knee, awkwardly knocked the ball out of the goalkeeper’s reach to turn the score around and secure the comeback.
