Italy Lautaro Martinez and Romelu Lukaku both scored as Inter beat Atalanta 3-2 in round 37, securing a top-four finish in Serie A this season.
At home at Giuseppe Meazza, Inter took the lead and opened the scoring with their first attack. Before the first minute had passed, Martinez pierced the Atalanta defense to let Lukaku run through, beat goalkeeper Marco Sportiello and put the ball into the empty net. It was the fourth consecutive match the Belgian striker scored in Serie A, after scoring against Napoli, Sassuolo and AS Roma.
Lukaku beat goalkeeper Sportiello to score the opening goal in the first minute of the match between Inter and Atalanta at Meazza Stadium on May 27. Photo: inter.it
Two minutes later, Nicolo Barella doubled the lead after Federico Dimarco's cross-angle shot failed to beat the Atalanta goalkeeper. Inter scored two goals in the opening three minutes of a Serie A match for the first time since a match against Roma on January 5, 1941, with Candiani and Demaria on target.
After allowing Mario Pasalic to reduce the gap at the end of the first half, Inter continued to dominate the game in the second half. In the 77th minute, Lukaku shielded the ball in midfield and turned to pass it to Marcelo Brozovic who entered the penalty area. The Croatian midfielder did not finish but passed it across for Martinez to tap into an empty net, restoring the two-goal lead. Martinez became the fourth player to surpass the 20-goal mark in each of the last two seasons in Europe's top five leagues, alongside Erling Haaland, Robert Lewandowski and Kylian Mbappe.
Lukaku celebrates with Lautaro after his teammate scored to make it 3-1. Photo: inter.it
In the first minute of injury time, after the free kick missed the wall, the ball bounced back for Luis Muriel to volley into the top corner, hit the crossbar, and hit Andre Onana into the net. The goal was counted as an own goal by the Inter goalkeeper.
However, the 3-2 victory was enough for Inter to officially finish in the top four and secure a ticket to next season's Champions League. They rose to second with 69 points, eight points ahead of fifth-placed Atalanta with one round of the season remaining. This result allows coach Simone Inzaghi to plan, keeping key players in the final round against Torino on June 4 to prepare carefully for the Champions League final against Man City on June 10.
After the match, the Italian coach considered pressing and taking a proactive approach like when he met Atalanta as "basic" in his tactics for the big match against Man City. He also hoped that the injured Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Milan Skriniar, Joaquin Correa and Danilo D'Ambrosio could recover in time for the final in Istanbul, Türkiye in two weeks.
"Man City is the strongest club in the world and the top candidate for the championship. But we have tried our best to reach the final and will give our all. Man City has 23-24 excellent players so we cannot just pick one or two to mark," Inzaghi added, while leaving open the possibility of continuing to put striker duo Martinez and Lukaku in the starting lineup.
Line-up :
Inter : Onana; D'Ambrosio (Darmian 83), Acerbi, Bastoni (De Vrij 80); Dumfries, Barella (Asllani 81), Brozovic, Calhanoglu, Dimarco (Gosens 70); Martinez, Lukaku (Dzeko 80).
Atalanta : Sportiello; Toloi; Djimsiti, Scalvini; Maehle (Okoli 86), De Roon, Ederson (Muriel 69), Zappacosta; Koopmeiners, Hojlund, Pasalic (Lookman 61).
Hong Duy
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