Yahoo Sports Serie A | Lecce 0-4 Inter: Nerazzurri dominate
Inter swept Lecce aside 4-0 for a seventh straight away victory including Lautaro Martinez, Davide Frattesi and Mehdi Taremi’s debut Serie A goal.
The Nerazzurri were still missing Hakan Calhanoglu and Francesco Acerbi, so adopted a little squad rotation including a rare start for Frattesi. The hosts were smarting after the 4-1 defeat to Cagliari where Ante Rebic was sent off and therefore suspended, plus Lameck Banda, Medon Berisha, Kialonda Gaspar, Hamza Rafia and Filip Marchwinski injured, while Antonino Gallo was not at 100 per cent.
See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.
It took just six minutes for Frattesi to make an immediate impact in his first Serie A start for three months, in the right place to meet the Marcus Thuram flick across from six yards. The Frenchman had started the run into the box down the left when intercepting a weak Frederic Guilbert back-pass and dizzying Federico Baschirotto with his footwork.
Lecce wanted Stefan de Vrij sent off for a last-ditch lunge on Nikola Krstovic just outside the area, but the yellow card stood because the striker was running away from goal towards the corner flag.
Thuram incredibly prodded wide undisturbed from eight yards when a clearance ricocheted into his path, but Inter then had two goals ruled offside within 60 seconds. Carlos Augusto started his run a moment too soon on the Lautaro Martinez through ball, then Thuram was off before rolling across for the Frattesi tap-in.
Patrick Dorgu, who is the subject of a €35m offer from Manchester United, saw his angled drive flash across the face of goal.
However, Baschirotto was robbed in the final third and Lautaro Martinez smashed a left-foot scorcher into the near top corner from just inside the penalty area.
Lecce tried to respond, Helgason volleying off target from a Dorgu cross, then Krstovic stung Yann Sommer’s gloves from just inside the area.
Against the run of play for the second half, Inter further extended their advantage. Lautaro Martinez ran onto a ball over the top and dragged defenders towards the corner flag before his back-heel flick released Denzel Dumfries to sweep the left-foot finish into the far bottom corner.
Moments later, Thuram had sent Frattesi clear through the centre for him to be brought down by Wladimiro Falcone for a penalty. Mehdi Taremi had just come on as a substitute and was handed the duties for his first career Serie A goal, sweeping into the bottom corner with the inside of the right boot.
Taremi threatened another soon after, his volley charged down inside the area, but Sommer flew to palm the Ylber Ramadani right-foot curler out of the top corner from distance and was rooted to the spot as the Helgason free kick skimmed the far post.
This was an historic occasion, as Simone Inzaghi set the new all-time record for the fastest coach to reach 200 Serie A victories on 332 games, beating Max Allegri’s previous best of 338.
Lecce 0-4 Inter
Frattesi 6 (I), Lautaro Martinez 39 (I), Dumfries 57 (I), Taremi pen 61 (I)
