Monza started with purpose, and Dany Mota almost gave his side a dream start, heading narrowly over the bar from close range with less than five minutes played. Inter were suitably awakened, and finally clicked into gear with a succession of passes across the midfield, which allowed Alessandro Bastoni to flight a ball from the left towards Matteo Darmian. With Monza’s defence at sea, he knocked it past a helpless Michele Di Gregorio to give Inter an early lead.
But Monza stunned the title chasers by drawing level instantly, doing so via a move started by Matteo Pessina, who outfoxed three defenders on the right and found Patrick Ciurria inside the box. He curled a low shot into the far corner of André Onana’s net, but the resultant parity would last just 11 minutes, due to a howler from Marí. He received a simple pass from Di Gregorio, but left himself open to a lurking Lautaro Martínez, who snatched the ball away from the Spaniard and fired home unchallenged to put the Nerazzurri back in front.
The remaining first-half minutes proved less eventful after such a breathtaking opening half-hour, though Inter remained the more confident team either side of the break. Martínez should have sealed the points early in the second half, when he climbed high to connect with a cross from a free kick inside the penalty area, but could only send his header inches over the bar. He would soon be accompanied by substitute Romelu Lukaku, as Simone Inzaghi looked to seal the points.
To their credit, Monza showed no fear in the face of a new threat, but they were well-muted by Inter’s fluid back five whenever they could remotely threaten on the counter. Meanwhile, set pieces proved sporadic at best for Raffaele Palladino’s men, though Mari came close to redeeming himself with 20 minutes remaining, forcing a close-range save from Onana low to his left. Inter soaked up any further pressure with ease, and Martínez even had time to hit the post, as the Nerazzurri’s superior top-flight pedigree made the difference.
But there was to be one more twist, as Dumfries deflected a Monza effort into his own net, ensuring that Inter could only go four points clear inside the top four, with capital duo Roma and Lazio aiming to cut that deficit tomorrow. As for Monza, they will take encouragement from this result, after showing character despite conceding a home league goal inside the opening half hour for the first time this season. They remain hugely optimistic of survival, and are still guaranteed to sit at least six points clear of danger by the end of this round.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Matteo Darmian (Inter Milan)
