Cremonese-Inter 0-2
GOALS: 16′ pt Lautaro Martinez, 31′ pt Zielinski.
CREMONESE (3-5-2): Audero 5; Ceccherini 5.5 (22′ st Faye 6), Baschirotto 5.5, Folino 6; Terracciano 6, Zerbin 6, Grassi 5.5 (30′ st Floriani Mussolini 6), Maleh 5.5 (50′ st Johnsen sv), Pezzella 5.5; Bonazzoli 5.5 (22′ st Djuric 6.5), Vardy 5.5. On the bench: Nava, Silvestri, Bianchetti. Coach: Nicola 6.
INTER (3-5-2): Sommer 6; Bisseck 6, Akanji 6, Bastoni 6.5; Luis Henrique 6.5 (15′ st Darmian 6), Frattesi 6 (15′ st Mkhitaryan 6), Zielinski 7, Sucic 6.5 (37′ st Diouf sv), Dimarco 7; Esposito 6 (15′ st Thuram 6), Lautaro Martinez 7 (29′ st Bonny 6). On the bench: Di Gennaro, Josep Martinez, De Vrij, Acerbi, Kamate, Cocchi, Bovo. Coach: Chivu 6.5.
REFEREE: Massa di Imperia 6.5.
NOTES: cloudy afternoon, pitch in good condition. Booked: Ceccherini, Baschirotto, Vardy. Corners: 6-1 for Inter. Recovery: 1′; 7′.
Inter doesn’t even fail at the «Zini» and wins 2-0 against Nicola’s Cremonese, now in a crisis of results. Chivu’s boys closed the game already in the first half, thanks to goals from Lautaro Martinez and Zielinski. While waiting for the Milan match (playing on Tuesday in Bologna), the Nerazzurri are now eight points ahead of the second place in Serie A. The result was never in doubt, also due to an overly submissive attitude from Cremonese who only had a surge of pride towards the end. Moments of fear in the 49th minute, when a firecracker thrown from the away section exploded very close to Audero. Inter played a high-level first half, taking possession of the opposing midfield from the opening minutes. The game was already going downhill in the 16th minute when, following Dimarco’s corner, Lautaro took advantage of too much freedom given to him by the home defenders and headed the ball home to make it 1-0.
The second goal, however, was achieved in the 31st minute and was yet another seasonal jewel from Zielinski. Luis Henrique converges towards the center and serves the Pole who, from distance, hits a powerful left foot that deceives an unreactive Audero and slips under the intersection.
A dull Cremonese team with a clear lack of confidence was unable to even take advantage of a couple of dangerous counterattacks, culpably conceded by the visiting team. First Vardy and then Bonazzoli did not prevail in the one-on-one match against Bisseck. In the 4th minute of the second half the match, which until then had been fair both on and off the field, was unfortunately tainted by a bad episode. A firecracker coming from the away section, in fact, exploded a few centimeters from Audero: the grey-red goalkeeper, initially on the ground dazed, got up after a few seconds, fortunately without suffering any consequences. The rest of the second half was completely managed by the Nerazzurri who risked conceding only in the 84th minute, when Zerbin hit the post from the edge of the box. The arrival from the bench of the new arrival Djuric was also not bad, as he was good at wreaking havoc in the opponent’s area. In injury time, Dimarco’s shot for a possible 3-0 was providentially blocked by Folino. This brings Inter to their eleventh consecutive useful result in Serie A (with the fourth success in a row). However, Cremonese’s dark moment continues, having not won since December 7th.