A first-half brace from Aleksandar Stankovic set Inter well on their way to a comfortable 4-0 victory over direct rivals Napoli, who dropped further in the table.
Lineup
Nicolò Frustalupi made two changes to the squad he fielded in Napoli’s 1-1 draw against Empoli. Francesco Gioielli returned from suspension to start over Landry Boni in the centre of the midfield. Meanwhile, Frustalupi rewarded Antonio Pesce for scoring his first goal of the season by starting him over Leonardo Rossi at striker.
(3-4-2-1): Boffelli, Obaretin, Barba, D’Avino; Acampa, Gioielli, Alastuey, Marchisano; Sahli, Spavone; Pesce
Match
Inter dominated the first half, creating their first chance after only 15 minutes. Enoch Owusu made a lovely turn at midfield before carrying the ball into the Napoli area. He passed to Francesco Esposito on his right and the striker tested Valerio Boffelli. The Napoli goalkeeper was well-position at the near post to make the save on the shot from a tight angle.
Inter persisted and opened the scoring only two minutes later. Esposito crossed the ball into the area from the left wing. Davide Acampa was first to the ball but the left wingback’s clearance was poor. He lobbed the ball straight to Aleksandar Stankovic at the edge of the Napoli area. The midfielder took the ball down before firing a cannon on the half-volley, past Boffelli and into the back of the goal.
The Nerazzurri doubled their lead only four minutes later after Issiaka Kamate won Inter’s fourth corner kick of the match. Stankovic rose up to win the header from Nikola Iliev’s inswinging cross and head the ball into the bottom corner. Midway through the first half, Inter were already up 2-0.
Inter nearly added a third two minutes later. Valentín Carboni dispossessed Benedetto Barba in the middle of the park and immediately broke the other way. The midfielder passed to Owusu on the right side of the area, but the forward skied his shot over the bar.
However, it wasn’t long before the home side added their third. In the 35th minute, Iliev picked up his second assist of the match, slipping a delicate through ball into the area. Luigi D’Avino was late to pick up Kamata, who ran on to the ball and hit the ball first-time, rolling it past a helpless Boffelli.
With Inter’s healthy lead, the second half was more subdued than the first. Yet, it still got worse for Napoli. In the 55th minute, Jorge Alastuey was forced to leave the match with what appeared to be an ankle injury. He was replaced by new signing Simone Bonavita, who made his Napoli debut against his former club.
The change didn’t make much of a difference, with Inter scoring their fourth in the 73rd minute, once again from a corner kick. Iliev tallied his third assist of the match, playing another inswinging corner kick into the 6-yard box. Substitute Dennis Curatolo caught Boffelli off his line and flicked a header into the bottom corner to make the score 4-0.
A deflated Napoli side played out the match, knowing the importance of this 4-0 defeat against a direct rival at the bottom of the table.
With their 2-2 draw to Udinese, Atalanta moved ahead of both Napoli and Milan, who lost 2-0 to Sassuolo. On 17 points, Napoli and Milan now occupy the two relegation playoff spots, one point behind Sampdoria and Atalanta, though Sampdoria have a game in hand.
