MILAN, Dec 13: Inter Milan gave an emphatic sign of intent as the defending Serie A champion moved to the top of Serie A with a crushing 4-0 victory over relegation-threatened Cagliari on Sunday.
Lautaro Martínez scored and missed a penalty in the first half, and Inter ran riot after the break with goals from Alexis Sánchez, Hakan Çalhanoğlu and another from Martínez.
Inter moved a point above AC Milan after its city rival drew 1-1 at Udinese on Saturday.
Inter broke the deadlock at San Siro in the 29th minute when Martínez headed in Çalhanoğlu’s corner.
Inter got its second goal five minutes after the break as a throw-in from the right was controlled by Nicolò Barella and then crossed in for Sánchez to volley into the bottom left corner.
Çalhanoğlu added a third in the 66th when he cut inside from the left and curled the ball into the bottom corner, and Martínez put Inter out of sight two minutes later.
Napoli was on the receiving end of a bizarre goal. Empoli scored the only goal of the match in the 70th minute. A corner was floated in from the left, Napoli midfielder André Anguissa headed it onto the back of Patrick Cutrone’s head at the near post and the ricochet took the ball into the back of the net.
Atalanta fought back to win in Verona. Aleksej Miranchuk canceled out Giovanni Simeone’s opener in the first half and Teun Koopmeiners scored the winner in the 62nd minute.
Sassuolo beat Lazio 2-1 while Torino beat Bologna 2-1 to inch further away from the relegation zone. (AP)
