Inter embarrassed by Atalanta
Inter suffered another humiliating defeat, falling 2-1 to Lombardy rivals Atalanta thanks to defensive errors despite Eder’s scorching goal.
Frank de Boer was hanging by a thread after one point from three Serie A rounds, as even Thursday’s 1-0 Europa League victory over Southampton was a worrying performance. Gian Piero Gasperini could sympathise, as he was famously sacked by Inter after five games in 2011.
The Nerazzurri had won only one of their previous seven trips to the Stadio Azzurri d’Italia, losing two and drawing the others 1-1.
Napoli had already lost here a couple of weeks ago and the Orobici sat just one point behind Inter in the table.
It was a disastrous start for Inter, as Remo Freuler’s corner was flicked on for Andrea Masiello to comfortably nod in at the back post.
Moments later, it was almost 20, as this time Samir Handanovic got his gloves to the Andrea Conti free header from a Boukary Drame’ cross.
Inter struggled horribly and failed to test Etrit Berisha at all in the first half.
There was more bad news, as Gary Medel was caught on camera lashing out an elbow at Jasmin Kurtic’s head in midfield. As it was not spotted by the officials, video evidence can be used in this case.
Atalanta lost defender Rafael Toloi to a thigh strain on the stroke of half-time, replaced by Abdoulay Konko.
Inter seemed a little livelier after the restart, but scored a goal out of absolutely nowhere when Eder hit a ground to air missile of a free kick into the top corner from a good 35 metres. Gian Piero Gasperini was sent off for dissent, feeling the original free kick award was soft, but it was Eder’s first Serie A goal since April.
Atalanta fought back and Handanovic beat a Konko header away from the waiting Masiello on another dangerous corner.
Davide Santon leapt to prevent Papu Gomez meeting Drame’s cross, then Jeison Murillo had to come sliding in top stop substitute Mauricio Pinilla tapping in a Franck Kessie’ assist.
Etrit Berisha had a rare save to make, parrying a powerful Ivan Perisic effort, but Inter shot themselves in the foot late on with Santon’s foolish mistimed tackle on Kessie’. Handanovic got his fingertips to the Pinilla penalty, but couldn’t keep it out.
Udinese 3 - 1 Pescara
Cyril Thereau’s brace and Duvan Zapata gave Udinese a much-needed 3-1 victory over Pescara.
The Dacia Arena hosted a relegation dogfight between two sides locked together on the edge of the drop zone. It was the first home match for Gigi Del Neri after a debut defeat to Juventus, but he missed Pablo Armero, Panagiotis Kone, Ewandro and Adalberto Penaranda. The Delfini had Andrea Coda suspended, plus Rey Manaj, Valerio Verre, JeanChristophe Bahebeck, Alessandro Crescenzi, Robert Muric and Norbert Gyomber injured. Francesco Zampano returned from his ban.
This fixture had been played three times in the top flight, all of them Udinese victories. In fact, Pescara had never beaten the Friulani, home or away in all competition, managing just three points from eight attempts.
Ledian Memushaj almost scored within two minutes, but opted to roll across the six-yard box rather than shoot and there was nobody ready to tap in. Moments later Cyril Thereau’s angled drive flashed just wide of the far post.
Duvan Zapata was going clear on Thereau’s through ball when Hugo Campagnaro blatantly pulled him by the shoulders for an inevitable penalty.
Thereau stepped up and converted with a cheeky Panenkastyle chip.
Pescara maintained more possession and Gianluca Caprari was unlucky not to score a stunner, as his acrobatic mid-air scissor-kick volley from 12 yards bounced off the crossbar.
Ahmad Benali drilled just wide, but Udinese wasted a golden opportunity on the counter when Thereau over-hit the pass with Rodrigo De Paul totally unmarked.
Duvan Zapata also pulled an angled drive wide following a defensive error. After the restart, Danilo risked an own goal with some desperate defending and Campagnaro stopped Duvan Zapata tapping in an Emil Hallfredsson ball across the face of goal.
Udinese doubled their lead when Albano Bizzarri only parried an Emanuel Badu strike into the path of Thereau, as the French forward completed his brace.
Pescara were rewarded for their possession and approach play by getting back into the game with Aquilani, who did well to stroke a surprisingly powerful finish in from the edge of the area with the inside of the right boot.
However, deep into stoppages Alessandro Crescenzi naively pulled Duvan Zapata’s shirt and the penalty was again too obvious to ignore.
This time the Colombian converted it himself to put the result beyond doubt.
Cagliari 3 - 5 Fiorentina
Fiorentina fought back from an early goal to crush Cagliari 5-3 in this remarkably entertaining match.
The Sardinians were brimming with confidence after a shock victory over Inter at San Siro last week, despite missing Joao Pedro, Diego Farias and Artur Ionita to long-term injuries.
Marco Borriello returned from the start with Marco Sau, resting Federico Melchiorri. The Viola had a full squad to choose from, as Josip Ilicic recovered from an ankle problem.
Cagliari were unbeaten on home turf this season and had won three of the last five Serie A meetings with Fiorentina, losing just one.
It took just a couple of minutes to break the deadlock, as Nicola Murru’s misplaced cross from the left turned into an assist, Davide Di Gennaro flinging his head at it from close range.
Marco Storari got down quickly to beat away a dipping Ilicic free kick, then was denied by Fabio Pisacane’s deflection after a quick one-two with Nikola Kalinic.
Fiorentina did equalise with Kalinic, who sprung the offside trap to get a glancing header to Cristian Tello’s cross. Cagliari protested, but replays show the Croatian was level.
The offside trap failed miserably yet again for the Viola to go in front, as Kalinic’s ball over the top found Federico Bernardeschi completely unmarked to volley home.
Bernardeschi turned the game around with a spectacular goal, taking full advantage of defenders backing off him to smash a left-foot scorcher into the near top corner from the edge of the box.
Cagliari simply fell apart and Kalinic swung his right boot to send another fierce finish into the top corner.
The home defence was nowhere to be found and Kalinic completed his second career Serie A hat-trick, rising for a precise header on Tello’s cross.
Storari kept the scoreline down by using his foot to deny a Kalinic effort, then Ilicic’s follow-up struck teammate Maxi Olivera.
Cagliari did pull one back from a Di Gennaro corner, as Marco Capuano had just come off the bench and was left totally unmarked to nod in.
Ianis Hagi, the 18-year-old son of Romania legend Gheorghe, came off the bench for his Serie A debut.
Fiorentina perhaps rested on their laurels and the hosts took advantage, another Di Gennaro corner finding Marco Borriello’s free header for 5-3.
It remained a fascinating match, as Bernardeschi’s powerful free kick skimmed the bar, but Cagliari threatened again with Simone Padoin and Federico Melchiorri. Yesterday Udinese-Pescara ............................ 3-1 Thereau 9’, 71’ (U), Aquilani 74’ (P), Zapata 90+3’ pen (U) Atalanta-Inter ................................ 2-1 Masiello 10’ (A), Eder 50’ (I), Pinilla 88’ (A) Cagliari-Fiorentina ......................... 3-5 Di Gennaro 2’ (C), Kalinic 20’ (F), Bernardeschi 26’, 32’ (F), Kalinic 40’, 53’ (F), Capuano 62’ (C), Borriello 77’ (C) Crotone-Napoli ............................. 1-2 Callejon 17’ (N), Maksimovic 33’ (N), Rosi 89’ (C) Empoli-Chievo ............................... 0-0 Torino-Lazio ................................... 2-2 Falque 20’ (T), Immobile 71’ (L), Murgia 84’ (L), Ljajic 90+2 (T) Bologna-Sassuolo .......................... 1-1 Verdi 10’ (B), Matri 87’ (S) AS Roma-Palermo .......................... 4-1 Salah 31’ (R), Paredes 46’ (R), Dzeko 68’ (R), Quaison 80’ (P), El Shaarawy 82’ (R) Juventus AS Roma AC Milan Napoli Torino Lazio Chievo Atalanta Sassuolo Cagliari Fiorentina Genoa Bologna Inter Sampdoria Udinese Pescara Empoli Palermo Crotone
Serie B 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9
Today Spezia-Cittadella
Lega Pro A 7 6 6 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 2 3 3 2 1 1 1 3 3 3 2 2 1 4 3 3 1 2 17 6 21 2 23 11 19 2 16 11 19 2 17 10 17 2 19 11 15 2 16 10 15 3 10 9 14 4 12 13 13 4 12 14 13 4 16 19 13 2 11 9 12 2 9 7 12 3 10 13 12 4 11 12 11 4 10 12 11 5 10 15 10 4 9 14 7 5 2 11 6 5 6 16 6 8 7 20 1
Yesterday Lucchese-Prato ................................ 3-0 Lupa Roma-Giana Erminio ............... 0-0 Olbia-Alessandria ............................ 1-4 Pro Piacenza-Viterbese ................... 2-1 Renate-Pontedera ........................... 3-0 Pistoiese-Como ............................... 1-1 Tuttocuoio-Cremonese .................... 0-1 Racing Roma-Carrarese ................... 0-1 Siena-Piacenza ................................ 2-3 Today Livorno-Arezzo
Lega Pro C
Yesterday Akragas-Taranto ............................... 1-1 Catania-Lecce .................................. 2-0 Catanzaro-Melfi ............................... 2-2 Fondi-Siracusa ................................ 2-0 Virtus Francavilla-Vibonese ............. 3-1 Messina-Casertana .......................... 2-1 Paganese-Juve Stabia ...................... 1-2 Andria-Cosenza ............................... 2-0 Foggia-Monopoli ............................. 4-1 Reggina 1914-Matera ...................... 2-6
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