Nicolò Barella provided the assist for a Lautaro Martinez strike and then scored a sensational goal himself as Inter swept Salernitana aside.

The Nerazzurri were fired up after a midweek 3-3 thriller in Barcelona put them on the verge of progress to the Champions League Round of 16. However, with Marcelo Brozovic, Romelu Lukaku and Roberto Gagliardini still injured, and Joaquin Correa only fit for the bench, there wasn’t much room for rotation. Salernitana started Boulaye Dia after his last-gasp winner over Verona, but Franck Ribery, Giulio Maggiore, Matteo Lovato and suspended Ivan Radovanovic didn’t make the trip, so 20-year-old Lorenzo Pirola faced his parent club.

Watch the highlights here.

Lautaro Martinez broke the deadlock early with a sudden snapshot from outside the box that bounced right in front of Luigi Sepe. He had an eight-game drought in all competition before finding the net at Camp Nou and that seemed to open the floodgates.

Flavius Daniliuc only received a yellow card rather than a red for wiping out Denzel Dumfries because the Dutchman was still a long way off goal and in a very wide position, so not a clear scoring opportunity.

Hakan Calhanoglu’s free kick only skimmed both Edin Dzeko’s head and Milan Skriniar’s foot as it flashed across the face of goal, while Grigoris Kastanos saw his scorcher hit the wrong side of the net at the near top corner and Norbert Gyomber made a block on Dzeko from seven yards.

Sepe got down well to palm Skriniar’s header away and Andre Onana did the same on Krzysztof Piatek’s snapshot, while Lautaro Martinez tested the goalkeeper from close range with a header.

After the restart, Il Toro’s header skimmed the crossbar from a Hakan Calhanoglu free kick, then Onana fingertipped Boulaye Dia’s header round the upright.

Barella added a goal to his assist with a spectacular strike. He controlled Calhanoglu’s long ball over the top with a perfect right-foot first touch, cut back to commit Pirola with his second and fired in from seven yards with his left foot.

Federico Bonazzoli nodded over the bar, but the second goal effectively killed off Salernitana’s confidence. Sepe fingertipped a Joaquin Correa free header over from Kristjan Asllani’s corner in stoppages.

Inter 2-0 Salernitana

Lautaro Martinez 14 (I), Barella 58 (I)

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