Marko Arnautovic scored one and assisted Lautaro Martinez before the Yann Bisseck header, as Inter swept Cagliari aside to top off a perfect week.
The Nerazzurri were fresh from a 2-1 Champions League quarter-final victory away to Bayern Munich, with the second leg coming up on Wednesday, but couldn’t risk squad rotation after a 2-2 Serie A draw against Parma. Federico Dimarco returned from injury, still missing Denzel Dumfries and Piotr Zielinski. The Sardinians had a full squad to choose from after the 0-0 draw at Empoli.
Inter were wearing a special edition jersey inspired by their super fan, MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi, while Cagliari’s had their names in Chinese on the back.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
Lautaro Martinez fired onto the side-netting when sent clear by Dimarco, while Yann Bisseck prevented a dangerous Tommaso Augello cross reaching Roberto Piccoli.
Inter broke the deadlock when Carlos Augusto chested down a dinked Hakan Calhanoglu pass over the top, seemingly for Lautaro Martinez, but Arnautovic pounced instead and blasted into the roof of the net from eight yards. It was the Austrian’s fifth goal in the last eight games.
Cagliari wasted a golden opportunity to equalise when Piccoli out-sprinted Stefan de Vrij to go clear on goal, failing to keep his cool and seeing Yann Sommer deny him one-on-one.
Moments later, Inter showed how it’s done with a similar situation, as Arnautovic’s sweeping pass from the left touchline sent Lautaro Martinez through for a delicate dinked finish over Elia Caprile. Arnautovic was stood so close to the Inter bench that he was immediately hugged by Simone Inzaghi – and kicked in the backside by Marcus Thuram.
Lautaro Martinez’s overhead kick flashed ...
