Serie A | Sassuolo 0-5 Inter: Super Nerazzurri shift into fifth gear

Inter unleashed a Manita on 10-man Sassuolo, including an historic Lautaro Martinez strike, first goals for Manuel Akanji and Luis Henrique, and a hat-trick of Federico Dimarco assists.

The Nerazzurri were on sparkling form, winning 10 of their last 11 Serie A games, and coming off Wednesday’s 2-1 Coppa Italia quarter-final victory over Torino. Nicolò Barella, Hakan Calhanoglu and Denzel Dumfries were still out of action, and away fans limited following the Emil Audero firework incident. The return of Domenico Berardi had revitalised Sassuolo, who earned back-to-back wins over Cremonese and Pisa, but Fali Cande and Edoardo Pieragnolo are out for the season.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Sassuolo nearly scored in the opening 60 seconds, as Ismael Kone got away on the Armand Laurienté lay-off and his curler beat Yann Sommer, but Federico Dimarco got back for a decisive goal-line clearance.

Luis Henrique tested Arijanet Muric at the near post, and from the resulting corner, Dimarco floated the ball to the back post for the Yann Bisseck header, giving Inter the lead.

Dimarco spotted Muric off his line and tried to float a free kick over him, only managing to thump the crossbar, while Lauriente’s cross-shot turned into an accidental assist for Berardi to flick wide with his heel.

Inter doubled their advantage with another Dimarco assist, bending the cross from the left around the defenders and swinging back in for Thuram to sweep first-time from six yards, ending a month-long Serie A drought.

Muric kept the scoreline down with his gloves stung by Piotr Zielinski, then Sassuolo got the ball in the net just before half-time when Berardi’s wayward volley on a Laurienté cross turned into an assist for Kristian Thorstvedt to cushion it over the line from six yards. However, it was disallowed because Laurienté had his kneecap offside at the start of the move.

After the restart, Dimarco’s effort was charged down and the Henrikh Mkhitaryan follow-up stung Muric’s gloves. On the resulting throw-in, a poor clearance allowed Lautaro Martinez to control with his chest and sweep in first time from 12 yards. It was a special moment, equalling Roberto Boninsegna’s tally to become the third all-time top scorer for Inter.

Sassuolo fell apart, as Muric was again very weak on another Dimarco corner, which Manuel Akanji nodded in relatively undisturbed for 4-0. The Neroverdi claimed there had been a foul, with Nemanja Matic booked for dissent, immediately escalating his protests, to warrant a red card.

Muric was once more all at sea, so Josh Doig had to clear off the line when Mkhitaryan curled towards an empty net, then the goalkeeper was decisive to push a Thuram tap-in onto the upright after a strong Bisseck run.

Sassuolo introduced January buys Ulysses Garcia and M’Bala Nzola, but Muric was again caught rushing off his line at the wrong time, so Luis Henrique let it bounce, controlled with his chest, and smashed the half-volley into the roof of the net from a tricky angle for 5-0.

It was almost 6-0, as in stoppages Kone cleared a looping Akanji header off the line.

Sassuolo 0-5 Inter

Bisseck 11 (I), Thuram 28 (I), Lautaro Martinez 50 (I), Akanji 54 (I), Luis Henrique 89 (I)

Sent off: Matic 55 (S)