Inter beat Empoli, close in on Serie A title
MILAN: Inter Milan took another step towards the Serie A title on Monday with a straightforward 2-0 win over struggling Empoli which maintained their 14-point lead at the top of the league.
Federico Dimarco put Inter ahead after five minutes at the San Siro before substitute Alexis Sanchez sealed the points in front of delighted home fans with nine minutes remaining.
Monday’s comfortable victory left Inter needing just 11 more points from eight matches to beat second-placed AC Milan to a 20th Italian league crown.
Inter have a huge lead on their local rivals thanks in large part to academy product Dimarco, whose first-time strike from Alessandro Bastoni’s neat clipped pass separated the hosts from their spirited opponents for most of the match.
It was Bastoni’s third assist in as many league matches and the Italy defender joked: “It was the worst of the lot, Dimarco’s finish made it look much better!”
“We’re really happy with the win because we’ve just come off the international break and it’s never easy winning after travelling around the world,” added Bastoni.
Simone Inzaghi’s side were far from the scintillating form they showed before being knocked out of the Champions League by Atletico Madrid last month.
But Inter have dropped only two points since the turn of the year and Monday’s win was a good way to end what has been a difficult couple of weeks.
Francesco Acerbi was cleared late last month of racially abusing Napoli defender Juan Jesus, an ugly episode which dragged on through the international break as the Italy defender and Inter denied the accusation.
Acerbi started the game after avoiding a potential 10-match ban due to the Italian Football Federation’s disciplinary tribunal deciding there wasn’t enough evidence to punish him.
A fourth straight defeat without scoring a goal left Empoli back in the relegation zone on goals scored, swapping places with 17th-placed Frosinone who drew 1-1 with Genoa on Saturday.
“If that run had knocked our confidence you’d have seen it tonight with a bad performance but that didn’t happen,” said Empoli coach Davide Nicola.
Bologna cruised past Serie A’s bottom side Salernitana 3-0 to continue their charge towards a first-ever appearance in the Champions League.
Stunning first-half strikes from Riccardo Orsolini and Alexis Saelemaekers and Charalampos Lykogiannis’ fine finish in stoppage time ensured that Bologna would stay in fourth place, five points above Roma who were held to a goalless draw at Lecce.
Thiago Motta’s side have won eight of their last nine matches and not only look a good bet to reach Europe’s top club competition, but also have Juventus in their sights.
Juve are just two points ahead of Bologna in third following their lastgasp defeat at Lazio on Saturday and have been dragged back into a battle for the Champions League.
Bologna currently sit in the final spot but Serie A is firmly in the running for an extra place in next year’s revamped tournament, meaning fifth may well be good enough.
RESULTS
Bologna 3 (Orsolini 14, Saelemaekers 44, Lykogiannis 90+2) Salernitana 0; Cagliari 1 (Sulemana 74) Verona 1 (Bonazzoli 30); Inter Milan 2 (Dimarco 6, Sanchez 81) Empoli 0; Lecce 0 Roma 0; Sassuolo 1 (Defrel 41) Udinese 1 (Thauvin 44)