Inter steadied their ship on Sunday with a victory over Udinese as the Nerazzurri maintained the pressure on Milan in a heated race for this season’s Scudetto.
Beating Fiorentina last week, Udinese hosted Inter this time. With Milan winning their game against Fiorentina earlier on Sunday, Inter needed to follow suit.
While Ivan Perisic’s header in the 12th-minute of the game broke the deadlock for Inter, Lautaro Martínez scored from the rebound after missing the initial penalty kick to hand the visitors some breathing space before the end of the first half.
Udinese stopped showing the respect they had been bestowing on Inter’s defence in the second half, ramping up their effort to eliminate the nil under their name. But Inter’s defence had stood firm until an awkward handling of the ball by Handanovič led Samardzic to get the ball in front of the goal. The German poked it into nets, reducing the deficit for the home side.
Despite Correa’s goal being chalked off for offside a few minutes later, Inter were able to salvage the three points.
Here are the player ratings from the game.
Udinese (3-5-2): Silvestri (6); Molina (7), Rodrigo Becão (6.5), Pablo Marí (6), Pérez (6), Udogie (6.5); Arlsan (6), Walace (6), Pereyra (5.5); Success (3), Deulofeu (5)
Substitutes: Pussetto (5), Samardzic (7), Soppy (6), Jajalo (N/A)
Inter (3-5-2): Handanovič (7.5); Škriniar (6.5), De Vrij (6.5), Dimarco (7.5); Darmian (6.5), Brozović (6), Barella (6), Gagliardini (5.5), Perišić (8); Lautaro Martínez (7), Džeko (5.5)
Substitutes: Sanchez (6), Vidal (5.5), Correa (6), Vecino (N/A), D’Ambrosio (N/A)
