MY ACCOUNT
Edin Dzeko was on target against his former side as Inter inflicted a 3-0 defeat on Jose Mourinho’s Roma in Saturday’s one-sided Serie A contest.
Mourinho was facing off against Inter in the league for the first time since guiding the club to a magical treble in 2009-10 – the second of two successful seasons at San Siro – but he suffered a painful reunion at the Stadio Olimpico.
Hakan Calhanoglu opened the scoring directly from a corner and then teed up Dzeko, who spent six seasons with Roma prior to swapping clubs in August, before Denzel Dumfries added a third in the first half.
Inter lost Joaquin Correa to a hamstring injury but eased to victory as they moved to within a point of leaders Milan. Napoli have a chance to return to the summit when they face Atalanta later on Saturday.
Roma have kept the most home clean sheets of any Serie A side in 2021 with 10, including four in their past five games, but they conceded after 15 minutes as Calhanoglu’s corner caught Rui Patricio out at his near post.
The champions doubled their lead nine minutes later through Dzeko, who ended a six-game scoring drought in the league by turning home first time after being picked out by Calhanoglu.
Shortly after Dzeko had been denied by a good Patricio save, right wing-back Dumfries converted Alessandro Bastoni’s cross with a diving header to put Inter out of sight by the 39-minute mark.
Roma were without a number of key players, including Lorenzo Pellegrini and Tammy Abraham, and that told as they struggled to find a way back into the match in a straightforward victory for Inter.
What does it mean? Misery for Mourinho, Inter march on
This fixture has produced the most goals in Serie A history, with that tally now standing at 514 in total after Inter’s rampant first-half display.
Inter stretched their unbeaten run in the league to eight games, winning the last four of those, and are well positioned to defend their Scudetto crown in Simone Inzaghi’s first season in charge.
As for Nerazzurri treble-winner Mourinho, this is just a second home defeat in 45 games as a manager in Serie A, with the other coming against Milan at the end of October.
Classy Calhanoglu
Calhanoglu scored one and assisted another of Inter’s three goals and has now been directly involved in six goals in his past five league games – as many involvements as his previous 15 matches in the competition.
The opening goal was perhaps a little fortunate, with that strike ensuring Inter have now scored in 18 successive away league games to equal a club record set in 1951.
Patricio’s shocker
The Roma keeper will perhaps argue Nicolo Zaniolo or Bryan Cristante should have dealt with Calhanoglu’s delivery, but he hardly covered himself in glory with his attempt to get across and keep the ball out.
Mourinho’s men crumbled after that early setback, conceding two more goals and registering just one attempt on target in the absence of their two most dangerous attacking players in Pellegrini and Abraham.
What’s next?
Roma conclude their Europa Conference League group campaign with a trip to CSKA Sofia on Thursday, while Inter travel to Real Madrid on Tuesday battling for top spot in Champions League Group D.
