MILAN – A brace from Marcelo Brozovic, one in each half, helped Inter to three fully deserved points this evening against Genoa.
The Rossoblu were organised, compact and hard to break down, even threatening Samir Handanovic's goal on occasion, but Inter had the greater quality and took their chances when they arose.
The Nerazzurri were back at San Siro on the hunt for their sixth consecutive home victory in all competitions and Stefano Pioli chose to start with a front three of Rodrigo Palacio, Mauro Icardi and Eder against Ivan Juric's Genoa.
The opening period at a fog-enveloped Stadio Giuseppe Meazza was cagey as the teams probed each other. Inter were looking to take control of the ball more, while the visitors were happy to sit back and rely on Giovanni Simeone's counter attacks.
The first action of note came in the 19th minute when the dangerous Darko Lazovic cut into the area and had Handanovic beaten with his shot, but luckily Danilo D'Ambrosio read the move well and got into position to clear off the line. Inter went straight down the other end and worked a good opening for themselves; Antonio Candreva was closed down by Ezequiel Munoz just as he went to shoot.
In the 38th minute, Icardi worked himself an angle for a shot and let fly from outside the area, winning a corner as his effort deflected off a defender. The ball from the corner eventually fell to Brozovic on the edge of the box and the Croatian defender connected neatly with a side-footed half volley, sending the ball into the bottom corner for 1-0 with Mattia Perin well beaten.
Pioli's men managed their slim lead until half-time and then the head coach decided for a change in personnel, bringing on Felipe Melo for Eder to shore things up in midfield.
However, Genoa started the second half well and the Nerazzurri No.1 had to be alert on a number of occasions to prevent the opposition getting back into the game.
In the 67th minute, Lazovic beat Yuto Nagatomo in a foot race and burst into the area, cutting the ball back for one of his team-mates to come onto it. Neither Simeone nor Nikola Ninkovic read the pass and the move fizzled out.
That would prove to be costly, as the Nerazzurri doubled their lead two minutes later. Joao Mario carried the ball from midfield into the Rossoblu penalty box and then had the wherewithal to square it, leaving Brozovic with a simple one-on-one to make it 2-0.
To their credit, Pioli's players didn't try to sit back on their lead and kept looking for the third. It didn't come, but the team should nevertheless be pleased with a decent shift and three well-earned points.
INTER 2-0 GENOA (HT: 1-0)
Scorers: Brozovic 38 and 69.
INTER: 1 Handanovic; 33 D'Ambrosio, 25 Miranda, 24 Murillo, 55 Nagatomo; 87 Candreva, 77 Brozovic, 6 Joao Mario (19 Banega, 87), 23 Eder (5 Melo, 45); 8 Palacio (44 Perisic, 57), 9 Icardi.
Subs not used: 30 Carrizo, 2 Andreolli, 7 Kondogbia, 10 Jovetic, 11 Biabiany, 13 Ranocchia, 94 Yao, 95 Miangue, 96 Barbosa.
Coach: Stefano Pioli.
GENOA: 1 Perin; 5 Izzo, 8 Burdisso, 24 Munoz; 22 Lazovic, 88 Rincon, 44 Veloso, 93 Laxalt (2 Edenilson, 85); 30 Rigoni (27 Pandev, 79), 9 Simeone, 11 Ocampos (99 Ninkovic, 56).
Subs not used: 23 Lamanna, 38 Zima, 3 Gentiletti, 4 Cofie, 10 Nctham, 13 Gakpe, 14 Biraschi, 28 Brivio, 29 Fiamozzi.
Coach: Ivan Juric.
Yellow cards: Ocampos 24, Veloso 28, Murillo 52.
Additional time: 1+3 minute.
Referee: Paolo Valeri.
Assistants: Salvatore Longo, Sergio Ranghetti.
Fourth official: Fabiano Preti.
Additional assistants: Luca Pairetto, Gianluca Manganiello.
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