The Nerazzurri came into Sunday’s game sitting sixth after Juventus had their 15-point deduction reversed on Thursday. Ahead of a pivotal Coppa Italia semi-final second leg at home to the Old Lady, an under-pressure Simone Inzaghi rang the changes from Wednesday night’s UEFA Champions League quarter-final draw against Benfica, with only Francesco Acerbi and Marcelo Brozovic keeping their places in the starting XI. Although Empoli aren’t in the thick of the relegation battle, they aren’t completely sure of safety either.
However, Paolo Zanetti’s men would have been quietly confident of completing their first-ever double over Inter having watched their 1-0 loss at home to Monza last weekend. Nicolo Cambiaghi had a chance inside 15 minutes, but after bringing the ball down beautifully out of the sky, his effort was closed down by 38-year-old Samir Handanovic, who then had to get down sharply to hold Tommaso Baldanzi’s strike from Fabiano Parisi’s cut-back. The visitors’ best chance before half-time saw Raoul Bellanova whip a cross into the danger area, only for Joaquin Correa to chest wide.
It didn’t take long after the break for Inter to take the lead though. A lovely move led to Brozovic playing a square pass for Lukaku across the edge of Empoli’s box and the Belgium striker shuffled across to create the space for a low right-footed strike that beat the dive of Samuele Perisan. With their tails up, the Italian giants pushed for a second, while at the other end, Cambiaghi wastefully fired over.
Midway through the half, Zanetti made a double change, which included the introduction of Inter loanee Martín Satriano, but the hosts subsequently suffered a scare as a Stefan de Vrij header clattered the bar, before they were punished again by Lukaku. Hakan Calhanoglu fed the 29-year-old, who drove at Ardian Ismajli, threw in a stepover to unbalance his man and fired clinically past Perisan. And it was three late on when Lukaku supplied substitute Lautaro Martínez and the World Cup winner kept his cool to guide home.
After the meeting with Juve on Wednesday, Inter’s next outing in Italy’s top flight is against Lazio next Sunday, with Empoli travelling to Sassuolo earlier in the day.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Romelu Lukaku (Inter Milan)
