Inter swept Venezia aside with Andy Diouf, Francesco Pio Esposito, Ange-Yoan Bonny and a Marcus Thuram brace, setting up a Coppa Italia quarter-final against Roma or Torino.
The Nerazzurri rotated the squad, albeit missing injured Denzel Dumfries, Raffaele Di Gennaro and Tomas Palacios, as Josep Martinez made his first appearance since being involved in a fatal car accident in late October. Venezia were the only remaining Serie B side in the tournament, having eliminated Mantova and Verona. Alessandro Plizzari was injured, but ex-Inter players in the squad included Filip Stankovic, Alfred Duncan and Andrea Adorante.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
Petar Sucic saw an early strike from the edge of the area charged down, then Davide Frattesi hit the side-netting after controlling the Andy Diouf assist with a delightful turn.
Moments later, Inter took the lead with the pair combining again. Diouf started the run from wide midfield, burst into the box on the Frattesi pass, controlled with his left foot and swept into the far bottom corner from nine yards with the inside of the right boot.
The second goal came moments later, as a long ball was knocked down by Ahmed Sidibe, Pio Esposito let it bounce and thumped the powerful half-volley into the bottom corner from outside the area. It was his first goal for Inter at San Siro.
Frattesi sent one defender to ground with a cheeky turn, but the second blocked him off, while Luis Henrique found nobody ready after a nutmeg to break down the left.
Marcus Thuram’s angled drive tested Matteo Grandi at the base of the near post, only a warning as his goal came soon after when Piotr Zielinski intercepted a loose pass in midfield and sent the Frenchman through for a daisy-cutter into the bottom corner from outside the area. He ran all the way to the bench for a hug with Federico Dimarco.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan made his comeback from injury for the restart and immediately sent Luis Henrique clear down the left, forcing a save from Grandi.
Thuram got his second of the game with a diving header to meet the Frattesi assist from the right by-line, even if the heavy landing from six yards stalled his celebration.
Venezia managed a consolation goal too when Richie Sagrado’s tap-in from seven yards took a big deflection off Carlos Augusto to wrong-foot Josep Martinez on the Daniel Fila pull-back.
Moments later, Michael Venturi made a decisive goal-line clearance to prevent Diouf from scoring his second of the match.
Mkhitaryan drilled inches wide too, but provided his assist when nodding down a Yann Bisseck cross to let it bounce on the edge of the area, where Ange-Yoan Bonny hit a ferocious half-volley into the top corner.
There was even a chance for 19-year-old Matteo Spinaccè to make his senior debut and nearly score a goal, sending one defender to ground before the finish was deflected at the near post.
Inter 5-1 Venezia
Diouf 18 (I), Pio Esposito 20 (I), Thuram 34, 51 (I), Sagrado 67 (V), Bonny 76 (I)
Player statistic
| Andy Diouf (Assist: Davide Frattesi) |
 |
18' | ||
| Pio Esposito | |
20' | ||
| Marcus Thuram (Assist: Piotr Zielinski) |
|
34' | ||
| 45' |  |
Seid Korac |
| Marcus Thuram (Assist: Davide Frattesi) |
|
51' | ||
| 66' | |
Richie Sagrado | ||
| Ange-Yoan Bonny (Assist: Henrikh Mkhitaryan) |
|
75' |
Match statistic
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