No Lukaku, no Conte and no problem for Inter in 6-1 rout
Rome, Sep 19 (AP): Even without Romelu Lukaku and Antonio Conte, Inter Milan seems intent on successfully defending its Serie A title.
The Nerazzurri completely overwhelmed visiting Bologna 6-1 on Saturday to extend their unbeaten start to the Italian league.
Substitute Edin Dzeko scored two late goals after Lautaro Martinez, Milan Skriniar, Nicol Barella and Matias Vecino gave the hosts a four-goal cushion. Arthur Theate pulled one back for Bologna four minutes from time.
The victory provided some welcome relief following two frustrating performances for Inter: A draw at Sampdoria last weekend and a loss at home to Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Inter moved atop the standings, one point above Roma, AC Milan, Napoli which are yet to play this weekend and Fiorentina, which won at Genoa 2-1 earlier. There had been concern about Inter’s status after Conte surprisingly left the team in May shortly after leading the club to its first Italian league title in more than a decade. Conte was openly concerned about the finances of Inter’s Chinese owners and his lack of input in the transfer market, and his worries were confirmed when Lukaku was sold to Chelsea in August for a reported 135 million, a record transfer fee for the European champions. Lukaku scored 64 goals in 95 matches across all competitions in his two seasons at Inter.
But under new coach Simone Inzaghi, Inter has had no trouble so far making up for losing Lukaku’s goals. With 15 goals scored in four matches, Inter has the most productive attack in the league.
“I feared this game, because after Wednesday against Real Madrid where we deserved more, there was some concern. Fortunately, we had the right approach from the start,” Inzaghi said.
“Inter deserve credit, because Bologna was unbeaten.”