Inter beat Napoli at San Siro in a vibrant, action-packed encounter. After a fiercely contested and evenly balanced first half, the Azzurri broke the deadlock after the restart. In the 50th minute, Matteo Politano found the net with a precise right-footed effort from inside the area. A few minutes later, Rasmus Hojlund fired a superb left-footed strike from outside the box into the far corner to make it 2-0.
Inter responded immediately by pulling a goal back in the 56th minute through Lautaro Martinez, who finished with a sliding effort. In the 82nd minute, the Nerazzurri levelled with a header from Marcus Thuram. Napoli came close to a third in the closing stages, first through David Neres and then Frank Anguissa. In the 91st minute, however, Inter completed the comeback with a Lautaro tap-in to clinch a 3-2 victory.
Coach Massimiliano Allegri gave his thoughts on the match:
“It’s a painful defeat because we were 2-0 up and had other opportunities to score. Unfortunately, we thought the ball had already gone out of play when Inter scored their first goal and that affected us.
“In any case, we need to remain calm because the performance was of a high level. At the moment, we’re paying a heavy price for our mistakes, but in the long run the team will reap the rewards of the hard work we’re putting in because we’re continuing to grow.
“We’ve conceded five goals in two games, yet in both matches we deserved more. We need to score when we have the chances and make fewer mistakes when we’re out of possession. However, the team showed plenty of positive signs regardless of the results.”
Matteo Politano, who opened the scoring in Milan, had this to say:
“Losing like this is hugely disappointing. We were 2-0 up and so coming away with a defeat is a bitter pill to swallow. Unfortunately, we conceded too much in the final 20 minutes and weren’t good enough to make the most of some of our counter-attacking opportunities.
“We prepared for the game really well with the coach, organising a very intense defensive approach, especially in the early stages of the match, before looking to play our football. Everything had gone really well after an hour, but unfortunately, we weren’t equally good at dealing with Inter’s response. We certainly deserved a positive result.
“We still need to focus on the positives and remain calm because we’re only at the start of the season and we’re continuing to improve physically.”
Inter 3-2 Napoli (HT: 0-0)
Scorers: Politano 50, Hojlund 53, Lautaro Martinez 56, Thuram 82, Lautaro Martinez 90+1.
Inter Martinez; Bisseck, Akanji, Bastoni (Bonny 79), Diouf, Barella, Zielinski (Calhanoglu 71), Sucic (Jones 46), Dimarco (Carlos Augusto 62), Pio Esposito (Thuram 46), Lautaro Martinez.
Coach: Chivu.
Napoli: Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Rafa Marin, Spinazzola, Anguissa, Lobotka (Gilmour 79), Vergara (De Bruyne 62), Politano (Neres 62), Alisson Santos (Badiashile 80), Hojlund (Lucca 72).
Coach: Allegri.
Referee: Sozza.
Bookings: Vergara, Lautaro Martinez, Rafa Marin.
