Inter are at least temporarily top of the table, but were made to suffer for their victory, fighting back from 2-0 down to beat Empoli 4-2 with a Lautaro Martinez brace.
The Nerazzurri went into this round two points behind leaders Milan, who won’t visit Verona until Sunday. Hakan Calhanoglu returned from suspension with Alessandro Bastoni still injured, while Edin Dzeko was rested ahead of the Coppa Italia Final against Juventus on May 11. Empoli had Petar Stojanovic and Valerio Verre banned, with Lorenzo Tonelli, Riccardo Marchizza and Nedim Bajrami out of action.
Empoli took the lead within five minutes in front of a stunned San Siro crowd, as Szymon Zurkowski burst down the right and rolled across for Andrea Pinamonti to slide in, getting to the ball before Milan Skriniar. On loan from Inter and a lifelong Nerazzurri supporter, Pinamonti had promised not to celebrate if he scored and he kept that word, instead dedicating the goal to agent Mino Raiola.
Zurkowski then had the ball in the net again on Pinamonti’s assist after 10 minutes, but this time the offside flag was up for the striker’s position much earlier in the build-up, a lucky escape for the hosts.
Lautaro Martinez nodded over and a deflected Denzel Dumfries cross-shot flashed across the face of goal. Inter were awarded a penalty on 22 minutes, but it was revoked after a VAR review because Parisi got the ball with the sliding tackle on Nicolò Barella.
Instead, Empoli doubled their lead by again playing out from the back, Riccardo Fiamozzi’s ball over the top found Kristjan Asllani, who got between Stefan de Vrij and Milan Skriniar to control and score from a tight angle.
Barella had more penalty appeals waved away, as even if there was a slight Filippo Bandinelli nudge, he still went into a ridiculous dive.
Inter got one back when Federico Dimarco put in a low cross from the left, in his attempt to clear it, Simone Romagnoli accidentally shinned the ball into his own net.
Barella fired a volley not far over and moments later Inter completed the comeback from 0-2 to 2-2 before half-time. Barella robbed Asllani in midfield, Hakan Calhanoglu pulled back from the by-line for Lautaro Martinez’s first-time strike off the outside of the boot from 12 yards. Empoli were furious here too, as they felt Barella had fouled Asllani.
They almost took the lead in stoppages, Guglielmo Vicario’s gloves stung by Perisic’s volley at the back post on a corner.
After the break, Denzel Dumfries nodded wide and Perisic flashed a ball across the face of goal, while both Lautaro Martinez and De Vrij failed to get the final touch on a Dimarco assist.
Vicario did well to fingertip a Calhanoglu daisy-cutter round the base of the far post, made another save on Dumfries from the resulting corner before a series of shots were charged down by defensive bodies.
The siege paid off, as Fiamozzi’s attempt to clear a Barella cross turned into an assist for Lautaro Martinez’s volley from 10 yards.
Correa also tested Vicario after a strong run and Alexis Sanchez sliding in failed to finish another Perisic assist, as Empoli seemed to run out of steam after that early surge.
Edin Dzeko almost had a fourth in stoppages, his angled drive bouncing off the inside of the far post. Instead, he turned provider and pulled a ball across from the left for Alexis Sanchez to sweep into the roof of the net from six yards.
Inter 4-2 Empoli
Pinamonti 5 (E), Asllani 28 (E), Romagnoli og 40 (I), Lautaro Martinez 45, 64 (I), Alexis Sanchez 94 (I)
Cue the horde of complaints about the refereeing!
And Verona can beat their opponent on Sunday night…
ForzaInter
No pk. Marotta’s referee is out of contract? This result means Juve cannot finish 2nd as many have expected.
@Muto that penalty call was a perfect example of VAR working as intended. Seen live, it 100% looked like a penalty. On replay, it was very clear that it was not a penalty. The right call was made. The system worked.
Milan has been given most penalties last season, no one complaint..
Referees always blatantly favour Rubentus past decade, no one complaint..
Inter fans heart is just worthy to become a monk in Tibet temple
💙 🖤 💙 🖤 💪
😘. Thank you Inter fans for showing me the light and telling me the truth about Rubentus.
So since not enough Milans are not complaining about the refs then Inter should it for them. I don’t understand why the ref didn’t give Empoli players yellow on clear fouls on many occasions. VAR actually worked on this match Marotta missed payment this time around I guess but I hope he pays in full for the Verona match.
Inter played better and in the end won deservedly, but on their second goal which made the game even Barella definitely made a foul. It should’ve been called off.
Deeserved overall for Inter, and this keeps the title race on a knife edge for the neutrals.
Empoli played well and could have easily been 3 up, but after their second they faded quite a bit. They have some decent players, though.
Compliment to Inter for the comeback and make this title not an easy one for Milan but I hate the way they complain at every whistle that doesn’t go their way and yet they got 2 goals fouling their opponent and the Ref didn’t stop playing.. The second one, which was very tough, the player had to go off injured and I am sure no Inter fan saw that😆
The Penalty was a right call and Italian football would have been a total disaster if the Ref had allowed it!
1 own goal by the club’s captain, 2 goals from fouls yet I read an Inter fan saying the other day, Chievo is going to score an own goal to roll over for Milan.. You guys should look in the mirror!
It’s like Inter can’t win a game without Milan fans unearthing something that is (in their minds) dubious. Doesn’t matter that Empoli completely ran out of steam early in the second half and were convincingly beaten in the end, to Milan fans, that one decision changed the entire game. It’s funny how you all are so convinced that Inter’s 2nd goal should not have stood because of the challenge by Barella but found nothing wrong with Giroud’s 1st goal against Inter after he barged into Sanchez to win the ball. You guys should look in the mirror too😜
On another subject, if Inter sell Pinamonti then it just shows they are completely clueless. This kid has scored the same number of league goals as Dzeko and more goals than Sanchez, Correa and Caicedo combined, yet they see him as the expendable option. Even if they think they can get 20m for him now, would they not have to spend 40m for Scamacca who’s the same age and has scored the same number of goals? If they are hell bent on cashing in on him, wouldn’t it make more sense bringing him back and playing him more regularly? With better quality players around him and training with him, if he ends up scoring 20+ goals and also impressing in the UCL, they could double or triple their asking price. If Fiorentina sold Vlahovic last season, they may have gotten 30m. But look at how much he went for in January. Personally I’d rather Inter kept Pinamonti for the long haul as more young Italian strikers need to be playing at the top clubs.