Inter Milan have returned to winning ways in a clinical fashion against a perhaps too brave Cremonese.
Inter had to do the business through counter-attack as Nicolò Barella scored a sensational volley and provided an assist for Lautaro Martinez after Joaquin Correa scored the opener.
Their latest win is on the back of a 3-1 defeat suffered against Simeone Inzaghi’s former team, Lazio, in Rome.
The Nerazzurri needed to get back on track, and they gave the right response being one of the favourites for Scudetto.
In the match where Inzaghi rotated the squad ahead of this weekend’s Derby della Madonnina, they didn’t really feel the absence of Romelu Lukaku, who has been ruled out for a month with a thigh strain.
They might need his service more against Milan as he joined Henrikh Mkhitaryan on the treatment table.
Cremonese, on their part, went into the tie on the back of three defeats by very narrow margins.
Despite starting Inter-owned goalkeeper Ionut Radu, they could not stop the San Siro side from taking maximum points.
Federico Dimarco had an early free-kick but shot it over the wall and skimmed the near top corner.
Inter went into the lead after Dimarco intercepted a Cremonese corner routine and sparked a rapid counter-attack which saw Nicolò Barella set up Edin Dzeko. Radu was only able to parry the ball with one hand for Joaquin Correa to turn in the rebound.
Samir Handanovic stopped the visitors from coming back into the game when he rushed off his line to close down Cyriel Dessers one-on-one.
The brave Cremonese team did not sit back as they continued attacking their hosts. Dessers flicked on a throw-in for Charles Pickel to scuff straight at Handanovic.
Inter also had their chances when Bianchetti made a decisive block to stop Correa from scoring a second when sent through by Calhanoglu.
Inter eventually got their second in absolute style. Barella began the counter-attack move with Denzel Dumfries. Calhanoglu floated a ball to the edge of the box where Barella was, and the midfielder hit an absolutely perfect right-foot volley.
After both sides lost chances to score, Inter came closest again with a triple chance in the 73rd minute. Ionut Radu denied Dzeko from point-blank range and the Lautaro Martinez follow-up before Dumfries fired over.
Inter later got their third goal from another counter from inside the Inter penalty area. Barella provided the assist for Lautaro Martinez, who held off a defender to score one-on-one.
Nigerian striker Okereke then reduced the deficit for Cremonese with a wonderful right-foot curler into the far top corner from outside the box.
Written by Oladipupo Mojeed
