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Inter Milan regained the lead in the Italian football league after a 4-0 thrashing of its hosts Udinese at the San Siro on Saturday at the end of the fifteenth round, a day after being temporarily occupied by Juventus.
Turkey’s Hagan Calhanoglu (37 via penalty kick), Federico Demarco (42), France’s Marcus Durham (44) and Argentina’s Lautaro Martinez (84) scored in the Inter quartet.
Inter returned to the lead, two points ahead of second-placed Juventus, and 9 ahead of neighbors Milan, while Atalanta suffered a painful 2-3 loss and slipped further and further away from the lead battle.
This was Inter’s ninth league match without a loss after a 1–1 draw against Juventus in the thirteenth round and a 3–0 win, following a string of recent victories and major defeats. Last level.
The team has qualified for the knockout rounds and will face Spain’s Real Sociedad at the San Siro on Tuesday in a crucial clash for top spot in Group Four.
With the score tied at 1-0 for the entire 37 minutes of the first half, Inter managed to settle the score within 7 minutes, before captain Martinez awarded the home team a penalty kick which Calhanoglu converted to give his side the lead.
DeMarco doubled the score following Calhanoglu’s cross pass.
The spectacle was completed before the end of the first half with Duram’s third goal following a pass from Armenian Henrik Mkhitaryan (44).
Interim coach Simone Inzaghi made a series of substitutions at the start and second half to rest many of his stars, but despite this, the home side maintained a clean sheet, conceding just seven goals in 15 matches this season in Serie A.
Martinez, Inter’s and the league’s top scorer this season, refused to leave the match empty-handed, adding a fourth with a shot into the left-hand corner (85) to take his tally to 14. In the league.
– blow to Milan’s ambitions –
Milan suffered a heavy 2-3 defeat against its hosts Atalanta, missing more chances to get closer to the lead.
Nigerian player Ademola Luqman (38 and 55) and Colombian substitute Luis Muriel (90 + 5), French player Olivier Giroud (45 + 3) and Serbian Luka Jovic (80) scored a hat-trick for Milan.
Milan’s defeat comes before Paris Saint-Germain’s loss to Germany’s Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League last-six before they travel to England to face Newcastle on Wednesday. , the Rossoneri overcame their deficit twice to qualify for the knockout round, however, third place was stable for the home side who temporarily rose to seventh place with 23 points, while Milan’s tie for third place with 29 points. And are currently nine points adrift of their neighbors Inter, and 7 adrift of second-placed Juventus.
Atalanta, who secured their first win in the league since October 30, opened the scoring in the 38th minute through Lukman as the latter looked to be on course to take the lead late in the first half, but Giroud finished. Level the score before the half-time break with a header from a corner kick (45+3).
The home team regained the lead with a shot from close range by Lukman (55), and the visitors waited until the 80th minute when American Christian Pulisic followed up Jovic’s cross to level the scores.
Atalanta snatched the three points this time with Muriel’s third goal past French goalkeeper Mike Mignon after quarter of an hour, replacing Belgian Charles de Keteler.
On the other hand, Lazio fell to a 1-1 draw against their host Hellas Verona.
Mattia Cacagne opened the scoring for Lazio (23) before Frenchman Thomas Henry equalized for the home side (70).
Lazio scored a second goal through Niccolò Casali, but it was ruled out for offside after an appeal to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) (74).
Hellas Verona’s Slovakian Ontrej Duda (77) is sent off for two yellow cards.
Lazio temporarily moved up to ninth place after raising its score to 21 points, while Verona raised its score to 11 points in eighteenth place.
The stage matches conclude on Sunday with meetings between Frosinone and Torino, Montsa and Genoa, Salernitana and Bologna and finally Roma and Fiorentina.
The stage ends on Monday with two meetings with Empoli, Lecce, Cagliari and Sassuolo.
