Serie A Roundup: Inter brush off Spezia, Berardi's wondergoal earns points for Sassuolo
Inter - Spezia 3-0
Coming into the contest on the back of a stoppage-time victory over Lecce on the opening matchday, Inter looked to assert their dominance over Spezia during the early exchanges. Denzel Dumfries and Lautaro Martínez both saw efforts well saved by Bartłomiej Drągowski, as the Nerazzurri controlled possession inside the visitors’ half and probed for an opener.
The hosts eventually found the breakthrough in the 35th minute, when Romelu Lukaku cushioned a long ball perfectly into the path of strike-partner Martínez, who powered a brilliant first-time finish into the bottom-left corner. Buoyed by the opener, Inter looked to double their advantage before HT, but Dumfries was again denied by Drągowski, while Lukaku saw a close-range header cannon against the crossbar.
Winless against Inter in five attempts, the visitors knew a good start to the second half was essential if they wanted to gain a foothold in the contest. However, any hopes of a comeback were soon extinguished six minutes after the restart, as Hakan Çalhanoğlu picked up a loose ball on the edge of the box, before stroking a clinical finish beyond Drągowski into the corner of the net.
Armed with a two-goal lead, Inter continued to attack at will in the final half-hour, and duly plundered a third with eight minutes remaining. Edin Džeko broke through the offside trap and rounded Drągowski, before squaring for fellow substitute Joaquín Correa to tuck home, sealing Inter’s seventh straight victory across all competitions.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Denzel Dumfries (Inter Milan)
Sassuolo - Lecce 1-0
Both teams came into this encounter off the back of opening defeats to Juventus and Inter Milan respectively and after a cagey opening to the match, the best chance of the first half saw Assan Ceesay catch Gian Marco Ferrari napping from a throw-in to seize possession on 34 minutes. The Gambian bore down on goal, but he was unable to keep his composure and fired over when he should have tested Andrea Consigli. That miss was punished when Berardi opened the scoring in spectacular fashion shortly before the break, thumping visiting centre-back Federico Baschirotto’s clearing header on the volley into Wladimiro Falcone’s bottom left-hand corner from 30 yards. Falcone, on loan from Sampdoria, did well to spread himself and deny Matheus Henrique shortly afterwards, but despite Berardi’s sucker-punch, the Serie B champions would have gone in at the interval relatively happy with their performance.
Marco Baroni threw on Lameck Banda at HT in an attempt to get the Salentians back on level terms, but the summer arrival from Russia’s Arsenal Tula lost his footing after being played in by Baschirotto. A searching cross from Gabriel Strefezza then evaded everyone, before another delivery from the right was miscontrolled by Joan Gonzàlez in a glorious position. Baroni made three further changes, but neither side created much of note during the rest of the contest. Berardi tried his luck from distance again late on, but the captain’s effort whistled just over.
Alessio Dionisi’s men will hope to build on this win when they travel to Spezia next Saturday, while Lecce return home to Stadio Via del mare, where they host Empoli the following day.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo)