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·25 February 2024

Serie A | Lecce 0-4 Inter: Lautaro celebrates Century

Inter showed squad rotation has no effect after a thumping 4-0 win away to Lecce, including Davide Frattesi, Stefan de Vrij and Lautaro Martinez taking his Serie A tally to 101 goals.

The Nerazzurri had won every competitive match in 2024, but changes were forced after the midweek Champions League win over Atletico Madrid. Yann Sommer had flu, with Marcus Thuram, Hakan Calhanoglu, Francesco Acerbi, Stefano Sensi and Juan Cuadrado injured. The hosts had Marin Pongracic and Patrick Dorgu suspended, plus Kastriot Dermaku sidelined.

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The deadlock was broken when Kristjan Asllani threaded a through ball off the outside of the boot for Lautaro Martinez to spring the offside trap, draw out Wladimiro Falcone and at full stretch manage to prod it past the goalkeeper. It was his 100th Serie A goal in only 196 appearances.

Goal number 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ in #SerieA for Lautaro Martinez 🐂 Leading the line and the league table 🫡 pic.twitter.com/2t9jwu7tV1 — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) February 25, 2024

Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s angled drive skimmed the upright and Asllani’s strike was at Falcone.

There was a curious incident at half-time, as referee Daniele Doveri sprained his ankle and could not continue, so he took over the fourth official duties while Niccolò Baroni was promoted to ref for the second half.

An Alexis Blin diving header was not far over the bar at all, then Federico Dimarco’s scorcher stung Falcone’s gloves.

Inter doubled their lead with a move that started out with some risky Audero passing from the back, as Yann Bisseck surged forward, Lautaro Martinez sent Alexis Sanchez to the by-line for the pull-back, allowing Frattesi to tap in from a couple of yards.

Moments later, it was 3-0, as Frattesi ran forward from midfield and rolled it across for Lautaro Martinez to come sliding in. There were suspicions of offside, but Blin was keeping everyone in play.