Inter 2-0 Monza: Captain Lautaro nets brace to secure opener victory for Inter

Inter Milan eased to an opening-day win over AC Monza in Serie A, with new captain fantastic Lautaro Martinez stealing a brace in his first game leading the side.

It was a smash-and-grab goal that gave Inter an early lead, with the ever-dangerous Denzel Dumfries finding space on the right-flank for the first time of many.

He rolled a miracle ball to across the box, and Martinez showed the instinct that made him top scorer for the Nerazzuri last season, ghosting off Danilo D’Ambrosio’s shoulder to latch onto the pass and stroke it into the bottom-left corner.

It was a game of few chances with Inter content to sit back and allow a toothless Monza to try and break them down, but unable to make the visitors pay on the break.

That was, until newly-arrived Marko Arnautovic came off the bench to tease a curling low cross towards the back post where Martinez found himself totally unmarked and was able to connect on the slide and double Inter’s lead.

Arnautovic proved an inspired substitution as he lit up what had been a dull affair up to that point. Only given 35 minutes on the field, he seemed to constantly find himself in space around the penalty area and was unlucky not to finish with a goal and another assist.

The pivot that Inter’s changed forward line operated around at the end, Arnautovic could be in contention to start next time out against Cagliari.

For their part, Monza struggled to fashion any cast-iron chances despite enjoying plenty of possession. Wing-backs Giorgios Kyriakopoulos and Patrick Cuirra were saw plenty of the ball particularly in the second half, but Monza’s forwards rarely found space in the danger areas, and weren’t accurate enough with their shooting when they did.

When substitute Valentin Carboni looked like he was trying to fire the ball to the moon from nine yards out deep in added time, it summed up the visitors’ evening.

Line-ups

Inter XI: Sommer, Darmian, Mkhitaryan, De Vrij, Calhanoglu, Dimarco, Barella, Thuram, Dumfries, Lautaro, Bastoni

Subs: Arnautovic, Cuadrado, Raffaele Di Gennaro, Correa, Sensi, Emil Audero, Frattesi, Yann Aurel Bisseck, Carlos Augusto, Kristjan Asllani, Aleksandar Stankovic, Giacomo Stabile

Monza XI: Caldirola, D'Ambrosio, Mari, Caprari, Mirko Maric, Gagliardini, Pessina, Patrick Ciurria, G. Kyriakopoulos, Michele Di Gregorio, Andrea Colpani

Subs: Petagna, Stefano Gori, Pedro Pereira, José Machín, Dany Mota, Samuele Birindelli, Alessandro Sorrentino, Giorgio Cittadini, Warren Bondo, Andrea Carboni, Franco Carboni, Samuele Vignato, Valentín Carboni