Inter’s great week continued as Romelu Lukaku scored a brilliant double in a 4-2 win over Sassuolo at San Siro on Saturday.
With one foot in the UEFA Champions League final after a 2-0 first-leg win over city rivals Milan on Wednesday, Inter took advantage of the Rossoneri’s losses in Spezia to put even more space between the two teams in Serie A.
Lukaku put the hosts in front with an arrow from distance before Ruan fired into his own net, while Lautaro Martinez scored off the rebound as the Nerazzurri claimed their seventh straight win in all competitions.
Matheus Henrique and Davide Frattesi pulled goals back for the mid-table visitors, but Lukaku conceded a fourth for Simone Inzaghi’s men late on as they moved up to third and a crucial five points above fifth-placed Milan, putting them in the driver’s seat to seal the deal. Champions League qualification with three matches.
VAR came to Inter’s rescue early on when Armando Lauriente was ruled offside after his cross was pushed onto the back post by the home side’s Domenico Berardi.
The visitors had an own goal ruled out minutes later, Andrea Consigli unable to keep out Joaquin Correa’s effort only for an offside flag to cut short the celebrations.
Henrique and Frattesi spurned golden opportunities to put the visitors ahead and were made to pay for those mistakes when Lukaku’s long-range drive flew into the top corner four minutes before half-time.
Martinez came on on the stroke of half-time as Inter doubled their lead, and that’s exactly what they would do when Ruan headed Raoul Bellanova’s cross into his own net.
The visitors had another huge stroke of luck and made it 3-0 before the hour when Martinez saw his effort hit the beleaguered Ruano and the completely misfooted Consigli before nestling home.
Sassuolo reduced the deficit with late headers from Henrique and Frattesi, but Lukaku sealed the victory when he coolly slotted past Consigli from Marcelo Brozovic’s pass to seal the points.
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