Lecce 0-2 Inter: Nerazzurri move further clear on top as Mkhitaryan & Akanji net

Inter Milan earned a seventh consecutive win in Serie A, after two late second-half goals helped the Nerazzurri to a 2-0 victory against Lecce at the Stadio Ettore Giardiniero – an eighth successive H2H victory for Cristian Chivu’s men.

Match Report

Following his side’s devastating midweek defeat in the Arctic Circle, Inter’s manager made seven changes for this arduous trip across the length of Italy.

And though Lecce, who were freshly confident after their first set of successive victories this term, might have fancied their chances of defying the odds, they were dealt a blow within a minute of kick-off.

Kialonda Gaspar was forced off with an injury after going down when trying to block a Marcus Thuram shot, but Jamil Siebiert proved a worthy replacement.

Soon after coming on, the German defender saved the hosts with an exceptional goal-line clearance in the 10th minute, when Federico Dimarco’s cross to the back post found Luis Henrique unmarked.

His side-footed volley looked destined to nestle in the far corner, but Siebiert was alert to clear after Wladimiro Falcone parried the ball towards the centre-back. 

That wasn’t Falcone’s only intervention, though, with a strong hand denying Francesco Esposito, ultimately making Lecce, who registered just one off-target effort in the opening 45 minutes, rather grateful to be level at the break.

Inter thought they had taken the lead five minutes into the second half, when Thuram broke through the Lecce defence before his low drive into the box was bundled in by Dimarco, but the goal was ruled out after the French striker was found to be offside.

With their lead at the top of the table at risk of being cut, Chivu turned to his bench in order to shake things up with four changes after the hour mark.

One of the substitutes, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, repaid the faith of his manager when he popped up in the 75th minute with a sweeping finish, converting inside the box from Dimarco’s corner for his second league goal of the season.  

With the deadlock broken, the pressure had visibly reduced on the Inter players and Chivu. That translated into a killer second goal, which came when another Dimarco corner caused havoc in the box, with fellow substitute Manuel Akanji powering in.

Inter's win puts the onus on both fellow Scudetto-chasing AC Milan and Napoli to respond with victories tomorrow in their respective matches.

Defeat for the Salentini keeps them in 17th place and just three points above the relegation zone with two of the bottom three yet to play this gameweek.

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

3' Match Event for Lecce vs Inter

9' Match Event for Lecce vs Inter

23' Highlight from Lecce vs Inter

26' Match Event for Lecce vs Inter

38' Highlight from Lecce vs Inter

52' Match Event for Lecce vs Inter

60' Match Event for Lecce vs Inter

69' Highlight from Lecce vs Inter

75' GOAL! Lecce 0-1 Inter (Henrikh Mkhitaryan)

79' Highlight from Lecce vs Inter

82' GOAL! Lecce 0-2 Inter (Manuel Akanji)

Line-ups

Lecce XI: Wladimiro Falcone, Ylber Ramadani, Coulibaly, Sottil, Antonino Gallo, Santiago Pierotti, Omri Gandelman, Walid Cheddira, Danilo Veiga, Gaspar, Tiago Gabriel

Subs: Fruchtl, Thórir Jóhann Helgason, Lameck Banda, Gaby Jean, Filip Marchwinski, Álex Sala, Konan N’Dri, Corrie Ndaba, Jamil Siebert, Jasper Samooja, Nikola Stulic, Sadik Fofana, Oumar Ngom, Matías Pérez

Inter XI: Sommer, De Vrij, Zielinski, Dimarco, Thuram, Bastoni, Frattesi, Yann Bisseck, Luis Henrique, Petar Sučić, Pio Esposito

Subs: Darmian, Mkhitaryan, Acerbi, Di Gennaro, Akanji, Josep Martínez, Carlos Augusto, Andy Diouf, Iwo Kaczmarski, Ange-Yoan Bonny, Luka Topalović, Matteo Cocchi