Lautaro Martinez got his first goals of the season along with Davide Frattesi in the opening 43 seconds, as Inter held on for the precious 3-2 victory away to high-flying Udinese.
The Nerazzurri were still stinging from a draw with Monza and defeat to arch-rivals Milan in the Derby della Madonnina. Frattesi came in for injured Nicolò Barella, also changing Yann Bisseck and Matteo Darmian. The Friulani lost their unbeaten run in a 3-0 result away to Roma and eliminated Salernitana from the Coppa Italia midweek, setting up a December clash with Inter, but went into the match two points ahead in the table. Martin Payero, Lautaro Giannetti, Hassane Kamara and ex-Inter star Alexis Sanchez were out of action, so tall defender Isaak Touré got his first Serie A start.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
It was the idea opening for Frattesi in a rare start, as after 43 seconds he ran onto the Darmian through ball and surprised a distracted Maduka Okoye with a scuffed finish at the far bottom corner.
Lautaro Martinez really should’ve broken his drought when allowed a free header on the Hakan Calhanoglu cross, but somehow nodded it wide of the back post. Marcus Thuram battled with Christian Kabasele to get the shot away, parried by Okoye, while Frattesi shinned the finish wide as Lautaro Martinez knocked down a Federico Dimarco cross.
Udinese fought back, as Dimarco made an extraordinary block to prevent the Sandi Lovric tap-in, but they equalised from the resulting corner, as Kabasele got a glancing header to the Jordan Zemura cross.
Francesco Acerbi prevented Keinan Davis from making the most of an Alessandro Bastoni error, while Henrikh Mkhitaryan fired wide from a Thuram assist.
Inter restored their advantage with the last kick of the half and a bit of luck, because Dimarco rolled across low from the left and the ball ricocheted in from six yards off a combination of Jaka Bijol and Lautaro Martinez. It was the Argentine’s first goal of the season.
He got another straight after the restart, as Bijol failed to cut out a ball over the top and Thuram put it down for Lautaro Martinez to take a touch and sweep right-footed into the near bottom corner.
Last year’s Capocannoniere came close to a hat-trick, but Okoye stood his ground to intercept the lob, then Carlos Augusto just failed to get on the end of the ball across the face of goal.
Just as Inter seemed comfortable, Udinese got back into the game. Lorenzo Lucca ran onto a through ball in midfield and shrugged off Calhanoglu, also resisting Stefan de Vrij pressure to surge forward and prod into the net.
In stoppages, Okoye had to be at full stretch to push the deflected Joaquin Correa curler over the bar, while Mehdi Taremi had the ball in the net only after fouling Toure’.
Udinese 2-3 Inter
Frattesi 1 (I), Kabasele 35 (U), Lautaro Martinez 45, 47 (I), Lucca 83 (U)
Player statistic
| 1' |  |
Davide Frattesi (Assist: Matteo Darmian) | ||
| Jesper Karlström |  |
26' | ||
| Christian Kabasele (Assist: Jordan Zemura) |
|
35' | ||
| 45+3' | |
Lautaro Martínez (Assist: Federico Dimarco) |
| 47' | |
Lautaro Martínez (Assist: Marcus Thuram) | ||
| Lorenzo Lucca (Assist: Brenner) |
|
83' |
Match statistic
