Hakan Calhanoglu’s goal and a last-gasp Lautaro Martinez penalty proved enough for Inter to beat Venezia at the Stadio Penzo and continue their climb up the Serie A table.
The Nerazzurri were fired up and confident after the win over Serie A leaders Napoli and booking their spot in the Champions League Round of 16. Alexis Sanchez, Arturo Vidal, Stefan de Vrij and Aleksandar Kolarov were injured, so Alessandro Bastoni moved to the centre of defence. The Lagunari had seven points from the last three rounds, but Tyronne Ebuehi and Niki Maenpaa missed out.
Joaquin Correa immediately had penalty appeals, but seemed to run into Antonio Junior Vacca, while Sergio Romero plucked an Ivan Perisic header out of the top corner and kicked the ball clear from Edin Dzeko in the six-yard box.
After a long period of possession, Hakan Calhanoglu unleashed a right-foot rocket from outside the box, which bounced right in front of Romero to fly into the near bottom corner.
Venezia almost equalised soon after, a spectacular long-range Mattia Aramu strike fingertipped out of the far top corner by Samir Handanovic.
Aramu tried again after the restart and it was not far from the top corner, but Ridgeciano Haps needed a goal-line clearance on Milan Skriniar’s header from a corner.
Dzeko and Dennis Johnsen had chances deflected, while Mattia Caldara stopped a Nicolò Barella scorcher getting through.
Inter were increasingly focused on defend and counter, with one of these chances Federico Dimarco stinging Romero’s gloves at the back post.
Deep into stoppages, a penalty was rather harshly awarded against Haps, as the ball ricocheted off his chest from point-blank range onto his hand. Nonetheless, Lautaro Martinez sent Romero the wrong way to seal the result with the last kick of the game.
Venezia 0-2 Inter
Calhanoglu 34 (I), Lautaro Martinez pen 96 (I)