Inter’s miserable start to the season continued with a shock 3-1 defeat at promoted Novara Calcio on Tuesday heaping the pressure on beleaguered coach Gian Piero Gasperini.
Riccardo Meggiorini gave Novara a first-half lead and Marco Rigoni scored twice in the last five minutes as Novara won for the first time since returning to Serie A after a 55-year wait.
Esteban Cambiasso pulled one back for Inter, whose captain Javier Zanetti was making a club record 757th appearance.
Photo: AFP
Inter have taken only one point from three Serie A games this season under new coach Gasperini and they also lost at home to Turkey’s Trabzonspor in the Champions League last week.
Gasperini has never managed a top side before and his future is already the subject of speculation.
Novara could have scored in the first minute, but he fired over. However, he made no mistake in the 38th minute, finishing a counterattack with a left-foot shot.
Inter never looked confident, with Wesley Sneijder and Diego Forlan substituted midway through the second half.
Their frustration was summed up by a yellow card for diving shown to central defender Lucio.
It got worse in the 85th minute when Takayuki Morimoto was bundled over in the area by Andrea Ranocchia, who was sent off, and Rigoni fired in the penalty.
Cambiasso pulled one back in the 89th minute, only for Rigoni to score again in stoppage-time.
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