Inter suffers a bump and does not recover the leadership

Inter, defeated on Wednesday in the round of 16 (first leg) of the Champions League (0-2), once again suffered another blow at the San Siro against Sassuolo. Another defeat by 0-2 that prevented them from being the leader of Serie A. Milan is still in the lead with two more points despite the fact that on Saturday they were unable to beat bottom Salernitana (2-2), but tomorrow Napoli will be first on goal difference if they win their visit to Cagliari.

Second win at San Siro this season

Inter, with Alexis Sánchez starting instead of an initially reserved Edin Dzeko, was the victim of the great game displayed in the first half by Sassuolo, the giant killer of Serie A after already beating Milan also at the San Siro in November (1 -3).

Alessio Dionisi’s team came out more connected and in the 8th minute they opened the scoring after stealing Domenico Berardi from Hakan Çalhanoglu and promoting a counterattack that Giacomo Raspadori culminated with a low shot that Samir Handanovic ‘ate’, who the ball went through under the body.

Inter had a lot of trouble overcoming Sassuolo’s high pressure although Çalhanoglu was able to equalize after receiving in the box and firing a cross shot that narrowly missed (16′).

The 0-2 before half an hour

Sassuolo continued to wreak havoc on Inter’s defense with the associative play of their attacking pieces. In addition to Raspadori and Berardi, Hamed Traoré and Gianluca Scamacca headed Simone Inzaghi’s team and between them they made it 0-2.

Traoré put in a great cross from his left flank and Scamacca, unmarked by Ivan Perisic losing the mark, hit a cross header hit the post that was impossible for Handanovic (26′).

Consigli, also decisive

Inter, without clarity of ideas, had a couple of chances well resolved by Andrea Consigli, who responded with a save to a Milan Skriniar header after a corner (30′) and also took a low attempt by Roberto Gagliardini from the edge of the box of the area (35′).

However, Sassuolo continued to display a brazen and attractive game for the fans and, in the 38th minute, made it 0-3 with a whiplash that repelled the crossbar.

Enter Dzeko at the break

At the break, Inzaghi brought on Dzeko for Gagliardini and Inter turned upside down in the second half, but Sassuolo, whose defense faltered in other games under pressure from the rival, withstood all the attacks.

Consigli avoided a 1-2 draw in the 64th minute by flying in to get a header from Dzeko on the line, but as the game progressed Inter’s wild attack allowed Sassuolo, hitherto well-equipped in their area, to project themselves into the attack again .

A quarter of an hour from the end, Inter saved themselves from 0-3 again in an attempt by Raspadori to pounce the ball on Handanovic, but the Slovenian touched just enough and Skriniar, with a header, ended up avoiding the goal.

desperate

Another desperate shot by an Inter increasingly tired from the effort was frustrated by Ruan Tressoldi by repelling a shot by Alexis Sánchez (85′). To make matters worse, already in discount time, the VAR annulled a header by Stefan de Vrij due to a previous hand by Denzel Dumfries.

Inter, although they have a pending game to play, wasted a great opportunity to recover the leadership that they lost the previous day. One point out of a possible 9 against Milan (1-2), Napoli (1-1) and Sassuolo (0-2), in addition to the defeat against Liverpool, reflect the delicate moment of the Italian champion, while Sassuolo remains in the middle of the table.