Italy Inter continued their rise in 2024 when they crushed Atalanta 4-0 in the make-up match of round 21 of Serie A to create a 12-point gap with second-place Juventus.
Inter won all 11 matches in 2024, including eight in Serie A, defeating Hellas Verona 2-1, Monza 5-1, Fiorentina 1-0, Juventus 1-0, Roma 4-2, Salernitana 4-0, Lecce 4-0 and Atalanta 4-0. As a result, the team became the top scorer in Europe's top five leagues this season with 67 goals in Serie A, surpassing Liverpool's 63 in the Premier League and Bayern's 63 in the Bundesliga.
Lautaro Martinez scores during Inter's 4-0 win over Atalanta at the Meazza on February 28. Photo: Inter.it
In 2024, Simone Inzaghi's team beat Lazio 3-0, Napoli 1-0 to win the Italian Super Cup, and defeated Atletico 1-0 in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16.
The last time Inter failed to win was a 1-1 draw with Genoa in Serie A on December 29, 2023. This season, they have only suffered two defeats in all competitions, losing 1-2 to Sassuolo in round six of Serie A and 1-2 to Bologna in extra time in the 1/8 round of the Italian Cup.
At Giuseppe Meazza on the evening of February 28, Atalanta started the game better and scored in the 10th minute thanks to a close-range volley from Charles De Ketelaere. However, after going to the sideline to review the video, the referee determined that Aleksey Miranchuk had touched the ball with his hand in the previous situation and disallowed the goal.
Inter escaped defeat and took the lead in the 26th minute. Goalkeeper Marco Carnesecchi came out to block Henrikh Mkhitaryan but passed the ball to Matteo Darmian for the former Man Utd defender to finish into an empty net. In injury time, Lautaro Martinez shone with a left-footed shot to the near corner that left the Atalanta goalkeeper rooted to the spot.
The controversial situation happened at the beginning of the second half. Federico Dimarco crossed hard to the far post, causing the Atalanta player to think the ball had gone out of play and stop, then Denzel Dumfries rushed down and crossed again into the penalty area, hitting Hans Hateboer's hand. The linesman raised his flag to signal that the ball was out of play, but VAR intervened and awarded Inter a penalty. From the 11m mark, Lautaro Martinez shot to the left corner but failed to beat Carnesecchi, but Dimarco swooped in to score the rebound.
Inter ended the day in style in the 71st minute, when Alexis Sánchez took a free kick for Davide Frattesi to head into the near post, sealing a 4-0 win. For the fourth time in a row, Inter have scored four goals in a Serie A game, after beating Roma 4-2, Salernitana 4-0, Lecce 4-0.
Davide Frattesi (dark blue shirt) scores the fourth goal for Inter in the Serie A round 21 make-up match, a 4-0 win over Atalanta at Meazza Stadium, Milan on February 28. Photo: AFP
Also in the make-up match last night, Napoli crushed home team Sassuolo 6-1. Victor Osimhen shined with a hat-trick, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored a double, and Amir Rrahmani contributed a goal. Uros Racic was the author of the only goal for Sassuolo.
With these results, Inter firmly holds the top spot with 69 points, widening the gap with Juventus to 12 points, while Napoli is ninth with 40 points. In the next round, Napoli will take on Juventus while Inter will host Genoa.
Hong Duy
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