With the Scudetto freshly secured, Inter Milan, led by Argentine star Lautaro Martinez, delivered a comfortable and unchallenged victory against a lackluster Lazio side. The Roman team, currently adrift in mid-table and pinning their hopes on the upcoming Coppa Italia final against Christian Chivu’s squad, showed little motivation.
Inter sealed their 21st Serie A title a week ago and are now eyeing a domestic double, though their European campaign ended sooner than expected. Lazio, meanwhile, sit eighth in the league with three games remaining, four points behind seventh-place Atalanta and eleven adrift of the European qualification spots. Maurizio Sarri’s men are clinging to the Coppa Italia as their route to the Europa League, but their focus seemed elsewhere.
The match was effectively decided within the first six minutes. A long throw-in from Yann Bisseck was headed on by Marcus Thuram in the box, and Lautaro Martinez volleyed past goalkeeper Edoardo Motta to open the scoring. Inter nearly doubled their lead five minutes later when Thuram’s shot went just wide.
Lazio offered little offensively in the first half. Inter extended their lead just before the break through a brilliant individual move from Lautaro, who set up Petar Sucic at the edge of the box for a clinical finish. The hosts continued to dominate after the restart, with Bisseck forcing a save from Motta. Lazio’s misery deepened when Alessio Romagnoli was sent off for a dangerous tackle on Ange Yoan Bonny.
Paradoxically, playing with ten men sparked Lazio’s best spell. Gustav Isaksen came close, but Carlos Augusto cleared off the line. However, Inter sealed the victory moments later when Petar Sucic forced a defensive error from Lazio, found Bonny, who set up Henrikh Mkhitaryan to make it 3-0.
The game was effectively over, setting the stage for a rematch between the two teams in the Coppa Italia final on Wednesday.
