Rome (AFP)

Inter Milan, three days after the nightmarish evening against Real Madrid (0-2) in the Champions League, relaunched with convincing success on the field of Sassuolo (3-0) on Saturday at the opening of the 9th day by Serie A.

The Nerazzurri join the Neroverdi in the standings, in provisional second place (18 points), behind the leader, AC Milan (20 points).

Often victims of early games in slow motion, Antonio Conte's men this time started strong against the sensational team of the first days, which they are the first to drop.

In less than a quarter of an hour, Inter led 2-0 thanks to two mistakes by nerover defender Vlad Chiriches.

The Romanian was first countered, opening the way to the goal for Alexis Sanchez, after a stint with Lautaro Martinez (4th).

Then Chiriches deceived his own goalkeeper, on a powerful center of Arturo Vidal (14th), revenge after his exclusion which cost the Nerazzurri dearly against Real Madrid on Wednesday.

Sassuolo, with Maxime Lopez holder in the middle, then recovered but it was not his day: Filip Djuricic found the post (21st) and his partners did not frame much.

Inter would fold the match on the hour mark by Roberto Gagliardini, and this time Chiriches, left with an injury before the break, had nothing to do with it.

The Nerazzurri, winners of the duel between the two best attacks in Serie A, confirm their firepower, with 23 goals in 9 league games.

And above all, they have not cashed, for the second time of the season only.

This quiet game is good news for Antonio Conte, who was able to save the strength of his best striker, Romelu Lukaku (who entered only for the last ten minutes) for the Champions League.

Badly, the Interists will indeed have no choice but to go and win in Mönchengladbach on Tuesday to maintain a small chance of qualifying for the knockout stages.

The meeting, like all those of the weekend in Italy, was preceded by a minute of silence in tribute to Diego Maradona.

The image of the ex-Argentine star will be projected on giant screens in the 10th minute of all matches.

© 2020 AFP