L’Inter beats 5-1 il Monza in the fourth advance of the 20th matchday of Serie A and continues its ride at the top of the table, momentarily extending to +5 on second-placed Juventus. The Nerazzurri lead the match at the U-Power Stadium already in the first half with goals from Calhanoglu on penalty and Lautaro (12′ and 14′). In the second half comes the hat-trick scored again by the Turk (60′), his first double in Serie A, before the penalties converted by Pessina (68′), Lautaro (84′) and the final seal of Thuram (88′). Palladino remains stuck in mid-table, Inzaghi sends a clear message to Allegri and their Super Cup rivals.
THE MATCH
Inter started strong and after less than 3′ they were close to 1-0 when a throw-in from Darmian reached Dimarco after a reviewable clearance by D’Ambrosio, but the Nerazzurri winger’s left-footed shot goes just wide. The hosts suffer a lot high blood pressure in Inzaghi’s menthey are in great trouble especially on the right wing from which in the 12th minute comes the episode that unlocks the evening: on Lautaro’s header the VAR sees the touch with Gagliardini’s arm, which decisively deflects the ball. Rapuano is called back to the monitor and assigns the penalty, which Calhanoglu transforms with his usual glacial coldness. Palladino’s team is totally in control and after just 2′ they score the second goal: Mkhitaryan rewards Dimarco’s lunge, who crosses and finds the winning split by Lautaro from zero meters. There is only one team on the pitch, which in the 22nd minute comes close to making it 3-0 with one Thuram’s kick at the invitation of the usual Dimarco, which comes out just to the right of Sorrentino. At the half hour Monza has a jolt from a free kick: Pessina finds the net with a header on a Caldirola bankbut after a long review the VAR cancels for millimetric offside. Inter press again towards the end of the half, but at the end of the first half the result is still 0-2.
At the beginning of the second half Palladino tries to play his cards Kyriakopoulos and Colombo moving on to a more offensive one 4-2-3-1. The team benefits from this by finally managing to raise the center of gravity and position itself with a certain continuity in the opponent’s half of the field, but on the first restart she is punished: starts and ends the action Calhanogluwho finds the back of the net after one a splendid assist from Thuram. At 66′ it is Pavard to go one step away from poker with a great header, but one extraordinary Sorrentino denies the Frenchman the goal and two minutes later Monza manages to close the gap: Darmian foul on Mota in full area, Pessina wrong-footed Sommer from the spot and found the goal to make it 1-3. It’s just an illusion, because in the ending the Brianza defense collapses and receives a double blow that makes the result very heavy: first the Akpa Akpro foul on Frattesi which leads to penalty converted by Lautaro (18 goals in 18 league appearances), then the Thuram’s goal on the counterattack which is worth a huge win and a heavy lesson, but deserved for Palladino’s team, which never took the field.
REPORT CARDS
Dimarco 7 – He returns to the starting line-up and starts doing what he wants in his area of expertise. Pressure, lunges, crosses and the perfect assist for the 0-2.
Lautaro 7.5 – A couple of plays are enough for him to split the game and make the difference, as usual. He gets the penalty for the 0-1 and scores the 0-2 as a great striker. He doesn’t miss his penalty after Calhanoglu’s substitution: 18 goals in a championship like a king.
Calhanoglu 7,5 – From the spot he continues to be sensationally infallible. To this he also adds his first brace in Serie A, which completes an evening as an absolute protagonist.
Thuram 6.5 – A first half in which he made a lot of mistakes and made mistakes, missing balls that were not his fault. He made up for it at the start of the second half with the great assist for Calhanoglu’s trio and with the fifth goal, which arrived with the result now achieved and with Monza in the locker room.
Gagliardini 4.5 – Bad marking on Lautaro both on the occasion of his touch of the arm which leads to the penalty and on the occasion of the second goal. Like the entire defense, he founders in a horror movie-esque second half.
Colpani 5 – A yellow after 5′ then a dull performance, in which he struggled to act as a link between the departments, often ended up overwhelmed by the opposing midfielders and had no chance of inventing anything.
Mota 6 – He is the only one to give some liveliness to Monza’s attack, even after the switch to 4-2-3-1. It was he who won the penalty which was then converted by Pessina, which however was not enough to make up for a nightmare evening.
Carbon 4.5 – He arrives at the appointment with destiny at the best moment of his season, but evidently (and understandably) feels too much pressure: he disappears immediately and despite remaining on the pitch until the end he leaves no trace of himself.
THE SCORESHEET
Monza-Inter 1-5
Monza (3-4-1-2): Sorrentino 5.5; D’Ambrosio 5 (26′ st Marie), Gagliardini 4.5, Caldirola 4.5; Pereira 5.5 (13′ st Birindelli 5.5), Pessina 6 (35′ st Akpa Akpro 5), Bondo 5 (1′ st Colombo 5), Ciurria 4.5 (1′ st Kyriakopoulos 5); Colpani 5, V. Carboni 4.5; Mota 6.
Trainer: Palladino 4
Inter (3-5-2): Sommer 6,5; Pavard 6,5 (37′ st Bisseck sv), De Vrij 6,5, Bastoni 6,5 (27′ st Acerbi 6); Darmian 6, Barella 6,5 (17′ st Frattesi 6,5), Calhanoglu 7,5 (17′ st Asllani 6), Mkhitaryan 6,5, Dimarco 7 (27′ st Carlos Augusto 6); Thuram 6,5, Martinez 7,5.
Trainer: S. Inzaghi 8
Referee: Rapuano
Markers: 12′ rig. e 15′ st Calhanoglu (I), 14′ e 39′ st rig. Martinez (I), 24′ st rig. Pessina (M), 43′ st Thuram (I)
Warned: Colpani (M), Calhanoglu (I), Birindelli (M), Pavard (I)
Expelled:
THE STATISTICS
• Hakan Çalhanoglu has scored seven goals from penalties this season; in the last 20 Serie A seasons (since 2004/05), only two Inter players have scored more goals from the penalty spot in a single tournament: Diego Milito (8, in 2011/12) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (8, in 2007/ 08).
• Hakan Çalhanoglu has scored nine goals in 20 matches this season, equaling his record for scoring in a Serie A season (9 in 2019/20 in 35 appearances).
• First brace for Hakan Çalhanoglu in his 222nd appearance in Serie A. The midfielder scored a brace in a match of the top five European leagues for the first time since 22 January 2017, with the Bayer Leverkusen shirt against Herta Berlin in Bundesliga.
• Monza conceded five goals in a match for the second time in their history in Serie A, after the 2-5 draw against Atalanta on 4 June. Before this evening, the Brianza team had never conceded more than two goals in a single top-flight home match.
• Inter is the team that has scored the most penalties this season in the top five European leagues (9/9). In particular, in the last 20 Serie A seasons, only in 2019/20, the Nerazzurri team has scored more from the penalty spot in a single top-flight tournament (10).
• Inter are one of the two teams, together with Bayern Munich, to have at least two players who have been involved in at least 15 goals in the top five European championships in 2023/24 (Lautaro Martinez, 20 and Marcus Thuram 15).
• Only Jude Bellingham (13) has scored more goals than Hakan Çalhanoglu among midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues 2023/24 (nine).
• Lautaro Martìnez is one of only three players in Europe’s top five leagues (with Kylian Mbappé and Harry Kane) capable of scoring more than 17 goals in each of the last four seasons (2020/21 to 2023/24).
• Inter won their first two Serie A matches in a single calendar year for the first time since 2017, when Stefano Pioli was on the bench.
• Monza have lost four of their last seven Serie A matches (W2, D1): since the beginning of December, only Salernitana and Frosinone (both five) have recorded more defeats in the competition.
• Inter have won at least 51 points after the first 20 Serie A matches of the season for only the second time after also achieving this in 2006/07 (54 after the same number of matches in that case).
• Lautaro Martìnez is the fourth player to be involved in at least 20 goals in each of the last four seasons of the five major European tournaments, together with Mohamed Salah, Kylian Mbappé and Harry Kane (from 2020/21 to 2023/24).
• Federico Dimarco has been involved in eight goals this season (three goals and five assists), equaling his record for participation in a single Serie A season (eight with Verona in 2020/21).
• Monza is the team that has conceded the most goals in the first 15 minutes of play of the first half in Serie A this season (nine).
• Inter scored at least five goals in a Serie A match for the first time since 16 September 2023 (5-1 against Milan in that case).
• In this match, Matteo Pessina and Patrick Ciurria (both 55) equaled Michele Di Gregorio (55) in 1st place among the players with the most appearances for Monza in Serie A.
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