Marcus Thuram, Hakan Calhanoglu and Davide Frattesi did not reflect the extent to which Inter dominated Lazio in the Supercoppa Italiana semi-final, as they prepare to face Napoli on Monday.
The Nerazzurri entered as both the Coppa Italia holders and reigning Supercoppa Italiana champions, with a full squad save for injured Juan Cuadrado. Maurizio Sarri’s Aquile qualified as runners-up for the Scudetto, but missed Patric and Taty Castellanos, with Mattia Zaccagni replaced by Pedro during the warm-up.
These clubs met twice before in the Supercoppa traditional format, Lazio winning 4-3 in 2000 and 2-1 in 2009.
Nicoló Barella and Marcus Thuram ballooned over from promising positions in the opening minutes, then Thuram saw his diving header deflected wide off Mario Gila.
Inter took the lead with a well-worked goal, as Alessandro Bastoni pulled back from the by-line down the left, Federico Dimarco’s inspired back-heel flick set up Thuram to tap in from four yards.
Felipe Anderson tried to fight back with an angled drive going wide, but Ivan Provedel needed a double save on the Lautaro Martinez scorcher and preventing a Thuram follow-up.
Hakan Calhanoglu’s cross skimmed both the back post and the boots of two Inter teammates, then Barella’s right-foot volley on a Dimarco cross thumped the crossbar from close range.
Matteo Darmian ballooned off target and Mkhitaryan saw his screamer charged down by Gila, while Alessio Romagnoli’s goal-line clearance was probably irrelevant as Thuram appeared to be offside.
After the restart, Pedro clumsily caught Lautaro Martinez on the back of the ankle, as spotted by the VAR, allowing Calhanoglu to drill the penalty into the near corner despite Provedel guessing the right side.
Inter rattled the frame of the goal for the second time moments later, as Lautaro Martinez’s strike hit the crossbar from a Barella assist.
Lautaro Martinez drilled inches wide from a Thuram pass, then the Dimarco cross-shot flashed past everyone in the six-yard box.
Frattesi came off the bench and added a third late on with a classic counter-attack sparked by the misplaced Luis Alberto pass, then Mkhitaryan rolled across for him to take a touch and beat Provedel one-on-one.
Ciro Immobile had the ball in the back of the net, but only after clearly using his arm to control it, while Provedel kept the scoreline down with a save on Kristjan Asllani.
