Seria A: Inter Milan go top after thrashing Salernitana
Two successive goalless draws against Genoa and AC Milan had brought the critics out of the woodwork for Simone Inzaghi’s Inter, not least in the direction of Lautaro Martinez, however the Argentine forward hit back on Friday night, netting a blistering hat-trick in a 5-0 demolition of Salernitana.
Lautaro has long been touted as the next great South American centre-forward, yet with talk of a move to Barcelona and Real Madrid almost certainly in the rear-view mirror, the Argentine needs to start performing like he did on Friday more regularly.
The scoring was opened after just 22 minutes as Lautaro got on the end of a fantastic through-pass from Nicolo Barella and poked the ball beyond the onrushing goalkeeper.
His second came on the cusp of half time, with Barella once again the provider, only this time Lautaro was able to showcase his technical proficiency with a clever piece of skill to wriggle inbetween two defenders before placing the ball into the bottom corner.
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This, in essence, was game over for Inter as the visitors looked to merely keep the score down from there, but the second half would get worse for relegation-threatened Salernitana.
After 56 minutes it was a confirmed hat-trick for the former Racing Club forward, with Edin Dzeko this time playing a pass into his path, with the Argentine sending a rocket into the roof of the net and, with it, a message to his doubters.
Dzeko, to his credit, has long been willing to play a secondary role to help the team and he was suitably rewarded with two goals of his own to close proceedings.
The first came just after the hour mark when the Bosnian fired home after a Robin Gosens cross from the left, whilst his second was a calm low shot beyond the goalkeeper after another fine pass from midfield.
Victory propels Inter to the top of the table by one point, leaving the entirety of Italy’s top four separated by eight points, ensuring this is going to be the most closely-contested Scudetto fight in years.
