Inter are clear in second place again and closed the gap on Napoli to 15 points after Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Lautaro Martinez swept Lecce aside.
The pressure was on the Nerazzurri after their surprise defeat to Bologna and a victory was needed to retain second place. Joaquin Correa, Federico Dimarco and Milan Skriniar were still out of action. Federico Baschirotto was suspended for the Salentini, who also missed Kastriot Dermaku, Joel Voelkerling Persson and Marin Pongracic, but had Samuel Umtiti and Federico Di Francesco back.
Hakan Calhanoglu stung Wladimiro Falcone’s gloves in the opening three minutes, while Alessandro Tuia caught Lautaro Martinez on the follow-through from a clumsy clearance.
Assan Ceesay tested Andre Onana from distance and Edin Dzeko nodded wide from a corner, but Inter broke through with a well-worked team move.
Robin Gosens found Nicolò Barella on the counter, whose dummy committed a defender, allowing him to roll across for the Henrikh Mkhitaryan first-time sweep into the far top corner with the inside of his right boot.
Joan Gonzalez blasted over from distance and Valentin Gendrey made a decisive sliding tackle on Denzel Dumfries. The Dutchman was starting to irritate the fans over a few errors, but he provided the assist from the right when Lautaro Martinez fired in from 12 yards, Dzeko’s run creating a gap by distracting defenders. Lautaro Martinez behaved like a real captain by making sure the crowd knew to credit Dumfries for that pass.
Gosens had penalty appeals waved away when he seemed to anticipate Alexis Blin, but the referee and VAR saw nothing amiss.
Francesco Acerbi’s cross-shot flashed across the face of goal, with the same result for a Morten Hjulmand header.
Inter 2-0 Lecce
Mkhitaryan 29 (I), Lautaro Martinez 53 (I)
Player statistic
| Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Assist: Nicolò Barella) |
 |
29' |
| Lautaro Martínez (Assist: Denzel Dumfries) |
|
52' |
Match statistic
