The new-look Atalanta team was destroyed 4-0 by defending Serie A winners Inter at San Siro on Friday night. The fluid team led by Simone Inzaghi played outstanding football to keep their perfect league start.
In the early stages, the champions were up 1-0. Thuram broke through the Atalanta defense with a masterful build-up, and he shot low toward the goal after racing into the right side of the box. It deflected spectacularly off Djimsiti’s extended leg and slipped past a caught off guard Carnesecchi to enter the near post.
Set-piece specialist Dimarco set himself up for a free kick from slightly over 20 yards out, but he served it to Calhanoglu, who shot with a typical rocket. Carnesecchi managed to deflect the whirling shot just in time.
When Atalanta was unable to clear a cross completely, Pavard nodded it back to Barella at the edge of the box, who scored first and brilliantly finished beyond Carnesecchi. It was truly a spectacular stunner from Barella.
Atalanta had some possession in the latter third for the first half but Zappacosta ended it with an angled shot that Sommer palmed away, and Retegui was unable to extend far enough to jump on the rebound.
Inter nearly scored a third goal as they came back from the cooling-off period. Thuram was free to move into Atalanta’s zone as another deflected shot whirled perilously in the direction of the target. But this time, it rebounded away to a relative safety after clipping the far post.
Brescianini and Samardzic, two recent additions, combined to create a chance to shoot low and miss the right-hand post. He could have done better because he could really hit them from a distance.
Thuram received his reward at last. After Atalanta failed to clear Bastoni’s long throw-in from the left, the French forward scored from six yards out, sending the ball into the bottom-right corner. At San Siro, it was 3-0 to Inter; it was a true poacher’s goal.
Martinez missed the far post by a few feet with his volleyed attempt after meeting a high cross from the right with his debut goal.
Thuram perseveres after utterly failing with his initial attempt, first nodding the ball down in the area and then pounced to finish Mkhitaryan’s flick from close range. Inter won 4-0 thanks to another brilliant finish from the striker.
First, some deft build-up play by Arnautovic set up Taremi, but the Iran international missed the conversion and the ball bounced behind for a corner. Arnautovic then bundled the ball from close range, narrowly over the crossbar, from the set-piece.
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