Inter gets back on track. The nerazzurri necessarily had to win in Cagliari to respond to Naples and Milan: mission accomplished and great too. Sant'Elia's 5-1 in fact restores enthusiasm and energy to a side that has cooled down a bit after the defeat against Roma and is frightened by Saturday's results.
Stefano Pioli took care of putting things back in order, relentless against the so-called small ones: since he's been around, Inter have only lost direct clashes with the big ones while they were simply ruthless in all the other matches.
“You can be successful by demonstrating that you have learned from your mistakes – the coach's analysis. – We have been attentive, effective, we have created a lot and perhaps we could have even conceded something less. The head is the right one, now let's think about Atalanta”.
Yes, because next Sunday at the San Siro there will be a direct clash with Gasperini's men and the Nerazzurri (those from Milan, of course) will arrive refreshed by yesterday's good victory. An afternoon that began with the thrill (occasionissima from Joao Pedro on 0-0) but then declined thanks to the great vein of Perisic, who confirmed himself as unstoppable on positive days.
The Croatian unlocked the match with a left foot that beat Gabriel (34'), thus allowing Inter to better manage the coverage of the spaces. In the 39th minute Banega doubled the lead from a free kick, then Borriello deceived Sant'Elia with a nice header (42').
It seemed like the prelude to a hard-fought and heart-pounding second half, but nothing could be more wrong: the Nerazzurri were absolute masters of the pitch and used the remaining 45' to round off the score.
Perisic immediately re-established the distance with a shot from within (47'), then Icardi brought his team up 4-1 by converting a penalty (the first of the Pioli era) which he obtained himself. Gagliardini signed the very poker final with a right from distance: his first goal in Serie A, who will face a challenge on Sunday in the match against his former Atalanta team-mates.
