Lukaku, Hakimi on fire as fivegoal Inter go on rampage

MILAN: Romelu Lukaku scored twice, the first within 30 seconds and Achraf Hakimi impressed on his debut start as Inter Milan beat promoted Benevento 5-2 in Serie A.

After their last-gasp 4-3 win over Fiorentina last weekend Antonio Conte’s side maintained the momentum at Filippo Inzaghi’s men who had shocked Sampdoria 3-2 last time out.

Belgium forward Lukaku followed on from his late goal against Fiorentina breaking the deadlock following a speedy Hakimi cross.

Hakimi, who has spent the past two seasons on loan from Real Madrid at Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, unlocked the match with his acceleration down the right finding Lukaku to blast in the opener.

The Morocco international then set up Roberto Gagliardini to volley in after 25 minutes and for the Belgian’s second just before the half hour.

Hakimi got on the scoresheet himself three minutes before the break, catching the Benevento defence napping with Argentine Lautaro Martinez making in five with 20 minutes to play.

Arthur Vidal and Christian Eriksen also came close to scoring for last season’s runners-up, the Dane rattling the crossbar late.

Gianluca Caprari scored for Benevento in the 34th and 76th minutes.

“I’m very happy with how I have adapted to the team even if I still have to learn certain mechanisms,” said Hakimi.

“Some moves are similar to those I did in Dortmund, I have the skills to play in this team.

“The team mates helped me a lot, and I’m learning quickly.

“The Scudetto? We are working towards this, we have a great team to fight for this goal.”

The match was one of three postponed from the opening weekend of Serie A because of teams’ European commitments.

In the other matches, Papu Gomez scored twice as Atalanta overpowered Lazio 4-1 in Rome while promoted Spezia won 2-0 against Udinese.