MILAN - Inter battled hard to find the winning goal on Sunday, with the decisive header eventually being scored by D’Ambrosio with just three minutes of normal play remaining. This latest win now pushes Inter up to 16 points in Serie A, who are sat closely behind both Juventus and Napoli.
It was a strong start for the Nerazzurri at the Meazza, with their first big chance coming after just 35 seconds of play. An early cross from Candreva found the lurking Perisic, although the latter’s strike went just over. Inter subsequently continued to press and the tenth minute then saw Candreva trouble Perin for the first time, although the Genoa defence eventually cleared. Five minutes following this second scare, Juric’s Rossoblu side finally broke forwards, with Handanovic pulling off a fine save to keep out Rossettini, who had latched on well to a corner from Veloso. The 25th minute then saw some fantastic defensive play from captain Icardi, who raced all the way back to his own area to intercept a threatening counter-attack from the visitors. As was the topsy turvy nature of the game, Perisic then had his own chance to score just four minutes later, although Perin was present to block the shot. Starting with the 16-year-old Pellegri up top, the Genoa striker could may well have opened the scoring in the 40th minute, although his header failed to find the target. Handanovic was on his toes once again just three minutes later, as he leapt across his goal line to keep out a long-range effort from the Taarabt. With just seconds remaining of the first half, the Nerazzurri came extremely close to breaking the deadlock, only for Brozovic’s effort to be kept by the post.
The teams remained unchanged for the second half. In the 47th minute, the visitors had a chance to take the lead through Laxalt who was set up well by Omeonga before firing just over with his left foot. Ten minutes later, Candreva wasn’t unable to control the ball in the area from Dalbert’s cross out on the left. The Nerazzurri applied more pressure in search of the opening goal. In the 64th minute, Vecino headed on a Brozovic corner but Eder wasn’t able to apply the finishing touch after replacing Candreva. The Inter no.77 was dangerous again in the 69th minute as his left-foot effort from distance was saved by Perin. 60 seconds later, Perisic found space up the left and delivered a cross with Brozovic able to get onto the second ball but his shot at goal was weak. Karamoh came on in the 72nd minute for his Inter debut as Borja Valero made way. Straight after, Eder’s shot from outside the area was kept out by Perin. Five minutes later, the Rossoblu were back on the attack with Handanovic doing very well to save from Omeonga in stages. The decisive moment came three minutes from the end. Perin tipped over from Karamoh at the cost of a corner. Joao Mario took it and D’Ambrosio was waiting at the far post to head home with an accurate finish. With Genoa searching for an equaliser in the final minutes, they received two red cards as Omeonga pulled Eder back to deny a clear goalscoring opportunity while Taarabt was sent off for a dangerous tackle on Karamoh.
The final whistle came after four minutes of stoppage time and Inter beat Genoa 1-0.
INTER-GENOA 1-0
Goalscorer: 87' D'Ambrosio
INTER: 1 Handanovic; 33 D'Ambrosio, 37 Skriniar, 25 Miranda, 29 Dalbert; 11 Vecino, 20 B. Valero (72' 17 Karamoh); 87 Candreva (60' 23 Eder), 77 Brozovic (81' 10 J. Mario), 44 Perisic; 9 Icardi
Substitutes: 27 Padelli, 46 Berni, 5 Gagliardini, 13 Ranocchia, 21 Santon, 55 Nagatomo, 61 Vanheusden, 99 Pinamonti
Coach: Luciano Spalletti
GENOA: 1 Perin; 14 Biraschi, 13 Rossettini, 87 Zukanovic; 20 Rosi, 4 Cofie, 44 Veloso (79' 30 Rigoni), 93 Laxalt (53' 18 Migliore); 11 Taarabt, 40 Omeonga; 64 Pellegri (74' 19 Pandev)
Substitutes: 23 Lamanna, 3 Gentiletti, 8 Bertolacci, 16 Galabinov, 17 Palladino, 21 Brlek, 22 Lazovic, 27 Ricci, 74 Salcedo
Coach: Ivan Juric
Bookings: 84' Migliore (G), 92' Zukanovic (G)
Red cards: 90' Omeonga (G), 93' Taarabt (G)
Added time: 0' + 4'
Referee: Guida
Assistants: Carboni, Preti
Fourth Official: Pezzuto
VAR operators: Fabbri, Pillitteri
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