Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram showed no mercy when pouncing on Lazio defensive errors, as Inter go four points clear at the top of the Serie A table.
The Nerazzurri had this opportunity after Juventus were held by Genoa, but Alexis Sanchez, Denzel Dumfries, Benjamin Pavard, Juan Cuadrado and Stefan de Vrij were out of action. Alessio Romagnoli and Gustav Isaksen were out, with Patric and Luis Alberto only fit for the bench.
It was a year yesterday that Sinisa Mihajlovic died of leukaemia, so his brother was in the stands and a tribute was shown before kick-off, as the Serbian played for both clubs.
Nicolò Casale threw himself in the way of Marcus Thuram’s shot in the opening minutes after a great first touch on the ball over the top, while Yann Sommer was right behind a Daichi Kamada attempt on a corner and got to the Matteo Guendouzi cross before Ciro Immobile sliding in.
There were some appeals for a potential Mario Gila handball, but it seemed to ricochet off his stomach to graze the underside of the arm and would’ve been very harsh.
Immobile couldn’t keep his header on target at the back post and Thuram flashed a shot across the face of goal, but Lazio were made to pay for repeatedly giving it away when playing out from the back.
It was a howler from Adam Marusic, whose back-pass was too weak and easily intercepted by Lautaro Martinez, who still had plenty to do dribbling around Ivan Provedel and scoring from a tight angle past Gila. He dedicated the goal to Bahia Blanca, a town in Argentina where 13 people died when severe storms saw a sports centre roof cave in.
Straight after the restart, Nicolò Rovella robbed Hakan Calhanoglu to burst into the box, but Sommer stuck out a boot to parry the relatively weak finish one-on-one.
Kamada badly shinned the strike when set up by Immobile on the edge of the box, then a through ball sent Lautaro Martinez clear only for Provedel to sprint off his line and just get his fingertips to it.
Inter doubled their lead when Nicolò Barella saw his first through ball for Lautaro Martinez intercepted by Marusic, but it came back to him and the midfielder instead spread it down the left for Thuram’s angled drive with his weaker left foot.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan almost scored from a similar position on a Lautaro Martinez pass moments later, but this time Provedel made himself big at the near post.
The frustration got to Manuel Lazzari, who was shown a straight red card for insulting the referee. The official had played the advantage on the foul, but Lazzari did not seem to realise this and shouted an obscenity within earshot.
Mkhitaryan thought he had the third goal when meeting a Carlos Augusto roll across from the left, but Provedel somehow palmed it over from point-blank range.
Lazio 0-2 Inter
Lautaro Martinez 40 (I), Thuram 66 (I)
Sent off: Lazzari 87 (L)
Player statistic
| 26' |  |
Marcus Thuram | ||
| 40' |  |
Lautaro Martínez |
| 61' | |
Nicolò Barella | ||
| 66' | |
Marcus Thuram (Assist: Nicolò Barella) | ||
| Nicolò Casale | |
81' | ||
| Manuel Lazzari |  |
86' |
Match statistic
