Udinese came back from a stunning Nicolò Barella free kick to stun Inter with their fifth consecutive victory, Gerard Deulofeu inspiring an own goal, Jaka Bijol and Tolgay Arslan headers.
The Friulani were the surprise of the season so far and went into this weekend a point above their opponents, on a run of four consecutive victories. Adam Masina was the only injury absentee, while the Nerazzurri missed Romelu Lukaku and Hakan Calhanoglu. The Milanese giants had not lost here in Serie A since January 2013.
In the opening minutes, Sandi Lovric drilled just wide from the edge of the area after a rapid Gerard Deulofeu attack.
However, Inter broke the deadlock with a sensational free kick from Nicolò Barella, who curled it over the wall and dipping right under the bar at the near top corner, giving Marco Silvestri no chance. It was the first direct free kick scored by Inter in Serie A since Federico Dimarco in September 2021.
Udinese were pressing very high and earning a series of free kicks, from one of them Roberto Pereyra curled it into the crowd and it bounced in off Milan Skriniar for an own goal.
Alessandro Bastoni’s ferocious volley was palmed over by Silvestri after Edin Dzeko chested down a cross at the near post.
However, Simone Inzaghi hit the panic button and made a double tactical substitution on 30 minutes, replacing Bastoni and Mkhitaryan who were both on yellow cards.
Dzeko nodded a Denzel Dumfries cross off target, then Dumfries saw his header into the ground from a corner bounce over the bar.
Dzeko had the ball in the net on 55 minutes, but was offside on the Barella through ball. Marcelo Brozovic was booked and will be suspended for the showdown with Roma.
Brozovic also lost the ball cheaply, leading to a Sandi Lovric counter-attack and Samir Handanovic fingertip save, then on the resulting corner Dumfries made a desperate clearance to stop Rodrigo Becao scoring.
Lautaro Martinez’s header flashed across the face of goal from a Federico Dimarco corner, but Udinese had a triple scoring opportunity that saw Deulofeu’s drive bounce off the far post, then Lazar Samardzic and Kinglsey Ehizibue efforts charged down on the rebound, but it struck Skriniar on the stomach and not the arm.
Handanovic was almost completely wrong-footed by a sudden Walace effort and had to use his legs to parry.
Udinese were building the pressure and turned the game around with Jaka Bijol’s glancing header from a Deulofeu corner, leaving Handanovic stranded as it flew into the far bottom corner.
Silvestri ran a huge risk, seeing a Brozovic snapshot bounce off his chest and Lautaro Martinez lunging in on the loose ball.
Instead, Udinese added a third on the counter, Deulofeu floating a cross for totally unmarked Tolgay Arslan’s diving header in off the underside of the crossbar.
Udinese 3-1 Inter
Barella 5 (I), Skriniar og 22 (U), Bijol 84 (U), Arslan 93 (U)