L’Inter beats 2-1 l’Udinese in the postponement of the 31st matchday of Serie A, sends Milan back to -14 and makes another step towards winning his twentieth championship. The Nerazzurri dominate the first half, but come up against a super Okoye and are mocked by the Gollonzo of Samardzic at 40′. In the second half they grabbed an immediate equalizer with the penalty converted by Calhanoglu (55′), but the hero of the evening is Frattesiwhich in the 95th minute tap-in scores the winning goal at the end of a long forcing. The possibility remains more alive than ever celebrate the title in the derby on April 22ndalso remains within reach Serie A points record.
THE MATCH
L’Udinese he starts with a fair amount of aggression, aiming to close every space but also to restart as soon as possible. L’Inter manages possession well, attacks as usual with full strength, but struggles to serve playable balls to his two attackers. The first opportunity must be created then Calhanoglu in the 21st minute, with a great right-footed shot from outside that finds the response from a super Okoye. The Turk is also the protagonist on the half hour mark, when he collects an assist from Lautaro and starts a shot right foot that seems destined to break through the netbut which is neutralized by a another amazing intervention from Okoye. Inzaghi’s boys are absolute masters of the pitch, but in the 40th minute the unexpected insult arrives: an apparently harmless restart free to finish Samardzichis is a cross shot that finds the slight deflection of Carlos Augusto and which settles gently into the net, surprising a Sommer is not very reactive. The Nerazzurri react immediately and create a great opportunity on the Dimarco-Lautaro axis, but the Argentinian’s strike is blocked byyet another incredible intervention from Okoye.
The second half opens withimmediate equalizer for Inter: the acronym Charles Augustusbut it Piccinini’s assistant cancels for offside. However, the guests’ pressure was rewarded in the 10th minute Okoye thwarted a heroic first half with a disorganized high exit that was clearly late on Thuram: Piccinini assigns the rigorthe usual Calhanoglu transforms it with coldness and precision. Udinese has a sudden jolt in the 65th minute, when Kamara sinks on the counterattack and serves Thauvinanticipated by a exceptional sliding intervention by Mkhitaryan. Inzaghi’s team attacks in the final minutes and reaches almost 80% of ball possessionbut to make the many fans who flocked to Friuli explode with joy he had to wait until the 95th minute: Lautaro’s shot was deflected onto the post by Okoye’s usual great interventionbut the ball returns to the field and Frattesi is the quickest of all to pounce on the tap-in. It is the winning goal, which makes the championship the conquest now a simple formality and that makes thefans’ mouths watering ahead of the derby.
REPORT CARDS
Okoye 7 – He played a superhero-like first half, with three sci-fi saves from Calhanoglu (twice) and Lautaro. He ruins his evening with the revisable high exit that leads to the penalty, then he gets furious with his teammates who don’t follow Frattesi (after another great save of his), opening the door wide for the final 1-2.
Samardzic 6,5 – The few counterattacks that Udinese manage to create all come from their feet. He has the merit of breaking the deadlock in the match, albeit with a very lucky goal.
Kristensen 5,5 – It’s a game of great suffering for the entire Friulian rearguard, he holds his ground as long as he can, but then falls asleep at the decisive moment, not following the path of the ball which Frattesi instead pounces on.
Calhanoglu 6,5 – In the first half he comes close to scoring twice, only stopped by a super Okoye, in the second half he gets it back with a penalty from his team, which allows him to reach double figures in the championship.
Lautaro 6 – The lack of goals continues: only one chance is created, neutralized by the usual Okoye, but he doesn’t give up until the end and has a hand in the decisive goal with the shot which Frattesi then reiterates on goal.
Frattesi 7 – Another key achievement from the bench. He creates at least three good scoring chances, then out of malice he throws the ball into the net which brings him one step closer to the championship.
THE SCORESHEET
Udinese-Inter 1-2
Udinese (3-5-1-1): Okoye 7; Perez 6.5, Bijol 6, Christensen 5.5; Ehizibue 6 (17′ st Ferreira 5), Zarraga 5.5 (25′ st Payero 5.5), Walace 6, Samardzic 6.5 (17′ st Lovric sv (37′ st Ebosele sv)), Kamara 6 (25′). ‘ st Zemur 5,5); Pereyra 5; Thauvin 5.
Trainer: Cioffi 5
Inter (3-5-2): Summer 5.5; Pavard 5.5, Acerbi 6, Carlos Augusto 6; Dumfries 5.5 (23′ st Darmian 6), Barella 6, Calhanoglu 6.5 (29′ st Sanchez 6), Mkhitaryan 6.5 (23′ st Frattesi 7), Dimarco 6.5 (36′ st Buchanan 6) ; Thuram 5.5 (36′ st Arnautovic 6), Martinez 6.
Trainer: Inzaghi 6.5
Referee: Piccinini
Markers: 40′ Samardzic (U), 10′ st rig. Calhanoglu (I), 45’+5 st Frattesi (I)
Warned: Pereyra (U), Pavard (I), Martinez (I)
Expelled: –
THE STATISTICS
– Inter is only the second team to have gained at least 82 points after the first 31 games played in a single season in the history of the single-group Serie A (since 1929/30), after Juventus in 2018/19 (84) .
– With Hakan Çalhanoğlu’s goal, Inter became the first team in the history of Serie A to score in each of the first 31 matches played in a single season.
– Inter boast three players with double figures in goals – Lautaro Martínez (23), Thuram (10) and Çalhanoğlu (10) – in a single Serie A season for the first time since 2006/07: Ibrahimovic (15) , Crespo (14) and Materazzi (10) in that case.
– Hakan Çalhanoğlu (10 goals in this championship) is the second Inter midfielder capable of reaching double figures in goals in a Serie A season in the era of three points for a win, after Ivan Perišić (11 goals in both 2016/ 17 than in 2017/18).
– For the first time in his Serie A career Hakan Çalhanoğlu scored double figures in a single season – also considering the Bundesliga only in 2013/14 did he do better (11 goals with Hamburg in that case).
– Three of the five goals that Inter scored in added time in the second half were scored by Davide Frattesi (against Milan, Hellas Verona and Udinese).
– Inter is the team that has kicked (12) and scored (11) the most penalties in the top five European championships in 2023/24.
– No player has scored more penalty goals than Hakan Çalhanoğlu in Europe’s top five leagues 2023/24 (eight).
– Among the players with at least 10 penalties kicked from 2017/18 to today in Serie A, i.e. since Hakan Çalhanoğlu’s first season in the Italian top flight, the Turkish midfielder is the only one to have scored 100% of them (14/14).
– Davide Frattesi scored three goals against Udinese in Serie A: more than against any other team in the Italian top flight.
– Udinese is only the second team capable of scoring the first goal in a match against Inter in this Serie A; before the Friulians, in fact, only Juventus had managed to do so on 26 November (a match which then ended with a score of 1-1).
– Only Sassuolo (26) has lost more points from leading situations than Udinese (22, equal to Frosinone) in this Serie A.
– Only Giovanni Fabbian (born 2003 – 5G+2A) is younger than Lazar Samardžić (born 2002 – 4G+2A) among the midfielders who have been involved in more than five goals in this Serie A.
– Since the start of last season, Lazar Samardžić is one of only four players born in the 2000s to have scored at least five goals from outside the area, together with Dusan Vlahovic (six), Vitinha and Phil Foden (both with five, like Serbian player from Udinese).
– Lazar Samardžić has surpassed 10 goals in Serie A (11 goals with today’s one) at the age of 22 years and 44 days – only two Serbian players in the history of the tournament have reached this milestone at a younger age than the Serbian midfielder Udinese: Dusan Vlahovic (20 years and 344 days) and Adem Ljajic (21 goals and 204 days).