MY ACCOUNT
Lautaro Martinez ended his goal drought and Inter’s four-game winless run in Serie A with an excellent hat-trick in a 5-0 thumping of bottom side Salernitana.
Inter have struggled for form since the turn of the year, but Martinez ended a wait for a league goal that stretched back to December as part of a first-half double that took his Serie A tally to 50.
Martinez completed just his second hat-trick for the Nerazzurri in the 56th minute, with Edin Dzeko then bagging two in the space of five minutes.
Inter cruised to the final whistle and moved a point clear of Napoli and Milan – who meet on Sunday – at the top of Serie A.
Salernitana may well have taken a shock lead in the fourth minute had Simone Verdi kept his effort from next to the penalty spot down.
It was a rare moment of vulnerability for Inter, who saw Martinez rattle the crossbar before angling a finish into the bottom-left corner after Nicolo Barella picked out his darting run.
Martinez doubled his tally five minutes before half-time when he was again fed by Barella and held off Luca Ranieri to dig out a low shot that got the better of Luigi Sepe.
Salernitana were unable to keep Martinez at bay after the restart as the striker raced in front of Radu Dragusin to steer Dzeko’s right-wing cross into the roof of the net.
Dzeko turned goalscorer as he thumped in a delivery from Robin Gosens, who had only replaced Matteo Darmian two minutes beforehand.
The VAR then deemed Dzeko was not offside before he turned Denzel Dumfries’ pass beyond Sepe, giving him a second of the game.
Joaquin Correa wasted a couple of opportunities to extend Inter’s lead, and Martinez missed a chance to score for the fourth time, but the three points were already secure.
What does it mean? Pressure on Inzaghi eases
Inter were four points clear at the summit at the end of 2021, but a run of two wins in seven saw them slip to third and two points adrift of Napoli.
With his side only scoring six goals during that stretch, questions started to be asked of Simone Inzaghi.
They will still have been expected to defeat Salernitana, but the emphatic nature of their success could reignite their faltering title challenge over the final stretch.
Magnificent Martinez
Martinez did not look like a player short of form against Salernitana as he ended a 425-minute barren run in all competitions. He was a livewire and had 10 efforts on goal – a total he has only once bettered in a Serie A game (11 v Cagliari in March 2019).
Brilliant Barella
It was only the second time in his Serie A career that Barella has laid on multiple assists in a single game. He supplied four key passes in total and played a role in most of Inter’s best moments.
Key Opta facts
– Inter are the first side to have scored 10+ goals without conceding against a single opponent in a single Serie A campaign (10-0 aggregate v Salernitana) since Fiorentina against Torino in 1958-59 (6-0 and 4-0 wins).
– Lautaro Martinez’s first goal interrupted a 425-minute drought for Inter in all competitions – it was his longest barren run for the Nerazzurri since going 430 minutes without a goal in January 2018.
– Inter have found the net after 58 Serie A shots without scoring, stopping their longest such run in the competition since February/March 2012 (68 shots without a single goal).
– Salernitana played their 100th Serie A game, 27,193 days after the very first match in the competition (Salernitana v Lazio on September 21, 1947).
– Thanks to the two delivered tonight, Nicolo Barella has now made nine Serie A assists this season, his new record in a single edition of the competition (overtaken the seven assists last term).
What’s next?
Inter will be aiming to keep their Champions League campaign alive at Liverpool on Tuesday, while Salernitana entertain Sassuolo next weekend.
