Lautaro Martinez reaches milestone as Inter thrash Lecce

Inter on Sunday again showed their intention to win this season’s scudetto with another comprehensive win away at Lecce as Lautaro Martinez reached and surpassed a century of Serie A goals for the Nerazurri.

Simeone Inzaghi showed the depth of his squad after a thumping 4-0 win away to Lecce, with goals coming from Davide Frattesi, Stefan de Vrij, and Lautaro Martinez, who scored a brace, taking his Serie A tally to 101 goals.

Having won every competitive match in 2024, the Nerazzurri made some changes after the midweek Champions League win over Atletico Madrid. 

The visitors broke the deadlock when Kristjan Asllani threaded a through ball off the outside of the boot for Lautaro Martinez to spring the offside trap, draw out Wladimiro Falcone, and, at full stretch, manage to prod it past the goalkeeper. The Argentine hit the milestone in only 196 appearances.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan failed to make it as his drive skimmed the upright, and Asllani’s strike was at Falcone.

There was a little delay at half-time. CCentr referee Daniele Doveri sprained his ankle and could not continue. He then had to take over the fourth official duties while Niccolò Baroni was promoted to ref for the second half.

Alexis Blin failed to score as his diving header went over the bar, and Federico Dimarco’s scorcher stung Falcone’s gloves.

Inter finally made it two with a risky move. It started with some risky Audero passing from the back; as Yann Bisseck surged forward, Lautaro Martinez sent Alexis Sanchez to the by-line for the pull-back, allowing Frattesi to tap in from a couple of yards.

They made it three moments later as Frattesi ran forward from midfield and rolled it across for  Martinez to slide in. 

After Roberto Piccoli’s went wide, Lameck Banda’s angled drive shaved a coat of paint off the base of the far post.

Inter then made it four to take the results beyond their hosts. Stefan de Vrij scored with a glancing header on a Dimarco corner.

After Falcone kept the scoreline with a foot safe to deny the deflected Marko Arnautovic effort, the Nerazurri failed to make it in the final minute, as Denzel Dumfries incredibly turned a free header wide from Barella’s cross.

Written by Oladipupo Mojeed