Having not beaten Inter in a Serie A match since 1992, negotiating the opening stages without falling behind would’ve been first on Verona’s checklist for success.
However, that list was ripped up inside the opening five minutes, as Lautaro Martinez was quickest to react to a loose ball on the edge of the area before rifling home low into the bottom corner, handing Inter the perfect start.
Despite the best efforts of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Inter’s lead remained a slender one at the break, with his deflected effort drifting agonisingly wide of the post off what looked to be a Verona arm, though VAR disagreed with the Armenian’s claim.
Inter then thought they’d doubled their advantage shortly after the hour mark when Martinez wrestled Federico Ceccherini off the ball and fired home his second of the day. The referee had other ideas though, insisting Martinez had been over-zealous in his attempts to win the ball back, keeping Inter’s lead at just one.
Eventually withdrawing some of his big hitters in preparation for Wednesday’s Super Cup showdown with Milan, Inter boss Simone Inzaghi rang some changes with around 15 minutes left.
With fresh legs on the field, that proved to be a good move, and Kristjan Asllani whistled an effort wide of the target as Inter continued to search for that game-killing goal.
Ultimately they didn’t need it though, holding on to extend their unbeaten home league run against Verona to 32 matches.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan)