Dimarco Sets Nerazzurri Up for Success –

Serie A leaders Inter needed to survive a late scare in a nerve-shredding 2-1 residence victory in opposition to Udinese on Saturday night. Simone Inzaghi’s facet posted a 3rd consecutive league win by the pores and skin of their tooth.

Buoyed by back-to-back wins in opposition to Atalanta and Monza earlier than the worldwide break, Inter loved a dream begin as Marko Arnautovic pounced on Federico Dimarco’s help to open the scoring after solely 12 minutes. It didn’t take lengthy earlier than the Nerazzurri discovered their second.

Dimarco whipped in one other elegant low cross towards Davide Frattesi, who turned it residence from point-blank vary to make it 2-0 for Inter on the stroke of the half-hour mark. With a mouth-watering Coppa Italia semi-finals in opposition to Milan across the nook, Inzaghi made quite a few modifications within the second half.

Nonetheless, it almost backfired on Inter. Concern crept in when Oumar Solet scored a surprising long-range strike within the 71st minute to chop the house facet’s lead in half. Lorenzo Lucca almost drew Udinese degree, however Yann Sommer flew by way of the air to cease his thumping header with a diving save.

With out additional ado, let’s take a look at our participant scores.

Inter (3-5-2)

Yann Sommer – 7.5

After a comparatively easy first half, the Swiss stopper had a lot to do within the second 45 minutes. He was powerless in opposition to Solet’s devastating effort however pulled off a surprising save to thwart Lucca’s header.

Benjamin Pavard – 6

The Frenchman’s type wobbles continued as he appeared rusty and out of steam, usually struggling in one-on-one duels with Lucca.

Francesco Acerbi – 6.5

In contrast to Pavard, Acerbi fared nicely in opposition to the towering striker till the seventy fifth minute when he slipped his mark, just for Sommer to bail him out with a implausible save.

Carlos Augusto – 6.5

Slotted in for Alessandro Bastoni within the again three, Augusto delivered one other reassuring efficiency after scoring in a 2-0 win at Atalanta final trip.

Federico Dimarco – 8

Again to the beginning line-up after a month-long spell on the sidelines, the prolific left-back delivered two first-half assists and almost scored himself halfway by way of the second half with an outstanding long-range effort.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan – 6

Regardless of providing little within the last third, the Armenian veteran held up his finish of the cut price within the build-up part, by no means gifting away possession whereas combining nicely together with his teammates.

Hakan Calhanoglu – 6.5

Together with his midfield teammates doing many of the heavy lifting, the Turkish star had a neater a part of the job as he solely needed to distribute the ball across the pitch with trademark precision and goal.

Davide Frattesi – 7

Handed a uncommon probability to start out forward of Nicolo Barella, Frattesi labored his socks off this night, exhibiting he might nonetheless be an attacking menace with a deadly end to double Inter’s lead.

Matteo Darmian – 6

The growing older wingback proved to Inzaghi that he’s worthy of the Inter shirt, defying latest damage struggles to switch Denzel Dumfries on the precise earlier than switching to the left after Dimarco’s withdrawal.

Marcus Thuram – 6

The French striker had a quiet night by his excessive commonplace as he by no means put Udinese goalkeeper Maduka Okoye to the check.

Marko Arnautovic – 7

There was nothing a lot Inter might’ve anticipated from the 35-year-old striker. He scored from the one probability that got here his solution to open the scoring.

Substitutes

Joaquin Correa – 4

Yann Bisseck – 6

Nicolo Barella – 5.5

Kristjan Asllani – 5

Nicola Zalewski – 5.5