Serie A | Inter 4-0 Salernitana: Different league

Inter made short work of Salernitana with goals from Marcus Thuram, Lautaro Martinez, Denzel Dumfries and Marko Arnautovic to ruin Fabio Liverani’s debut and go 10 points clear at the top.

The Nerazzurri kept squad rotation to a minimum ahead of the Champions League with Atletico Madrid, but Francesco Acerbi, Stefano Sensi and Juan Cuadrado were injured. Salernitana sacked Pippo Inzaghi this week, so there was no brotherly reunion on the touchline, as Liverani made his debut as their third coach of the campaign. Domagoj Bradaric was suspended, with Federico Fazio, Niccolò Pierozzi, Lorenzo Pirola and Norbert Gyomber injured, so switched to a three-man defence.

The hosts had a huge double chance in the opening two minutes, as Guillermo Ochoa palmed away the Alessandro Bastoni header on a corner, then Marcus Thuram prodded the rebound onto the back post.

By the seventh minute, the woodwork was rattled again, as Nicolò Barella sprung the offside trap on an inspired long Bastoni ball and Ochoa fingertipped his ferocious strike onto the crossbar.

Ochoa was again alert on Stefan de Vrij’s header from a corner, then Lautaro Martinez hit a fresh-air shot on the Denzel Dumfries pull-back from 10 yards.

Inter did eventually make it all count when Carlos Augusto shrugged off challenges to break down the left and roll across for Thuram to turn in with the inside of the right boot.

Marcus Thuram opens the scoring for Inter with a lovely assist from Carlos Augusto 🤝 pic.twitter.com/Ns0IWIEzvy

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) February 16, 2024

Barely a minute later, it was 2-0, as Lautaro Martinez gathered a long Carlos Augusto throw-in, cut inside Jerome Boateng and curled right-footed into the far bottom corner. It was pointed out that it should’ve been disallowed, as Carlos Augusto had one foot on the pitch, but this is not part of the VAR protocol.

Goal number 20 for Lautaro Martinez in Serie A this season, and what a way to reach the milestone 😤 pic.twitter.com/CiuD4TUqjv

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) February 16, 2024

Jerome Boateng had been in doubt for this game and limped off after just 24 minutes, with Giulio Maggiore becoming a makeshift central defender.

Thuram went sliding in at the far post, just unable to connect to another inspired Bastoni cross, but the third goal arrived when Barella’s pull-back was deflected off Tryantafillos Pasalidis, causing Ochoa to fumble into the path of Denzel Dumfries.

After the restart, Ochoa got behind a powerful Hakan Calhanoglu volley and fingertipped the De Vrij header over the bar from a Calhanoglu corner.

Marko Arnautovic thought he had made it 4-0, but was flagged offside on a ball over the top.

Tajon Buchanan received his debut in the Inter jersey and immediately had penalty appeals rejected after a mazy run.

Arnautovic did get his goal with the last kick of the game, as the Dumfries roll across from the right was deflected, but he was still able to steer it in.

There are now 50 points separating top from bottom, plus Inter have a game in hand, and they were all visible in this performance.

Inter 4-0 Salernitana

Thuram 17 (I), Lautaro Martinez 19 (I), Dumfries 40 (I), Arnautovic 89 (I)