The Scudetto race and relegation go down to the wire, because Lautaro Martinez’s brace and a Matteo Darmian header saw Inter conquer Cagliari 3-1 in Sardinia, but this result does send Genoa down.
There was everything at stake here, as the Sardinians could climb out of the bottom three with a win, while the Nerazzurri needed a victory to keep the Scudetto race alive after Milan beat Atalanta 2-0. Matias Vecino was the only absentee, with Alessandro Bastoni returning to the starting XI, while Cagliari missed Boris Radunovic.
Ivan Perisic forced a save in the opening three minutes with a low drive, while Hakan Calhanoglu’s acrobatic volley was straight at Alessio Cragno.
Charalampos Lykogiannis had the first Cagliari chance with a ferocious daisy-cutter than Samir Handanovic got one glove to.
Serie A Liveblog: Milan-Atalanta, Cagliari-Inter, Napoli-Genoa, Bologna-Sassuolo
Milan Skriniar had the ball in the net after seven minutes when he met a Calhanoglu free kick at the back post, nodded it onto the upright, it bounced back in off his torso and arm, so the goal was disallowed using VAR.
Lautaro Martinez’s header also flashed wide, but Matteo Darmian opened the scoring by massively out-leaping Lykogiannis to steer an Ivan Perisic cross back across Cragno into the far top corner.
Bastoni also nodded over from a corner and Luca Ceppitelli charged down a Lautaro Martinez effort, while the Argentine also saw his toe-poke finish parried by Cragno.
Lautaro Martinez was unlucky not to score on the stroke of half-time, as his first attempt came off the base of the upright, then on the rebound Cragno tipped over the bar.
The striker did get his goal eventually, as a long Nicolò Barella ball over the top allowed Lautaro Martinez to spring the offside trap, hold off Giorgio Altare and drill through Cragno’s legs.
However, moments later Cagliari got one back, as Lykogiannis hit an absolute screamer with his left foot that took a slight deflection off Skriniar to leave Handanovic with no chance.
That seemed to really wake the Sardinians up and they began to attack in waves, Keita Balde Diao turning over as Handanovic rushed out, while Perisic’s header was just wide from a Denzel Dumfries cross.
Lautaro Martinez fired over on the volley from a tricky angle, but he got his second of the game and locked the victory down with a sensational finish. Roberto Gagliardini sprung the offside trap and rolled it across for the Argentine’s magnificent first-time dink over the on-rushing Cragno.
Lautaro Martínez has put this game to bed with the finest of finishes 🤤
What composure to dink the ball over the keeper this late in the game.
The Serie A title race is going right down to the wire! 😅 pic.twitter.com/uVQT5Q5BS8
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) May 15, 2022
Dumfries almost added a fourth in stoppages, thumping the upright.
Cagliari 1-3 Inter
Darmian 25 (I), Lautaro Martinez 51, 84 (I), Lykogiannis 54 (C)
If lautaro stays, he’ll become very lethal next season
Probably too little too late for Inter.
Remember Perugia. Anything can happen on the final day.
How much money would inter need to transfer to the refs to win it do you think?
Totally wrong Andy, based on what we saw recently, it’s clear Bilan is the side who buys referee
Obviously you missed coppa final, brozovic second yellow?? Some inter fans are so blind to the times they get favour, only recall when they don’t, all teams get it for and against, happens every week in the prem, but they promote their footy and not look for scandal