Inter Milan conceded their first defeat of the season at Lazio Rome (3-1) on Friday during the 3rd day of Serie A, trapped by the Spanish entrants Luis Alberto and Pedro who tipped the match in the last fifteen minutes.
Simone Inzaghi will still have to wait to bring back a point as Inter coach on the field of Lazio, the club where he spent most of his career as a player and then learned the trade of technician.
Like last year (already 3-1 defeat), Inzaghi took a lesson in efficiency from his successor on the laziale bench, Maurizio Sarri. The latter aimed justly by launching Luis Alberto and Pedro just before the hour mark, while Inter Milan had just equalized.
Luis Alberto, who seems to have forgotten his desires to start, restored the advantage to Lazio with a superb uncontrolled strike which left Samir Handanovic without reaction (75th). Pedro bent the match with a wrapped strike after a confused action (86th).
“It’s a loss that hurts a lot. It was a balanced game. We had a good first half, but Luis Alberto’s goal broke the balance,” Inzaghi told DAZN.
Inter had however put a lot of pressure from the start, but struggled to be dangerous, like a Romelu Lukaku who barely had one chance, on a header that was too crushed (38th).
– Lazio provisionally in the lead –
Lazio had the best opportunities. If Ciro Immobile missed the target (16th) and stumbled on Handanovic (37th, 47th), she logically took the lead thanks to a close header from Felipe Anderson, on receiving a millimeter opening from the precious Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (40th).
Sarri’s team especially knew how to keep a cool head at the start of the second half when Inter pushed hard and equalized on a set piece concluded by Lautaro Martinez (51st).
“This victory is important for us, it is the way forward to progress”, savored Pedro.
With two wins and a draw in three matches, Lazio temporarily leads the standings (7 pts), one point ahead of Inter, who won their first two games.
In the other game of the day, Monza continued their difficult learning curve for their debut in the top flight with a third defeat in three matches, at home against Udinese (1-2). Silvio Berlusconi is still waiting for his first point despite the attractive recruitment of the off-season, before going to challenge Roma on Tuesday.