Inter on Monday wasted no time flexing their attacking muscle as they dismantled Torino 5-0 at home to open their Italian Serie A campaign.
Marcus Thuram scored twice as Inter at times turned the Torino box into a playground, creating far more chances than the scoreline suggested.
Inter asserted their superiority from the first whistle at San Siro, with Thuram almost striking inside the opening minute when his header flashed just over the bar.
Photo: AP
The hosts’ dominance was rewarded in the 18th minute when Alessandro Bastoni rose highest at a corner and guided a looping header over the Torino defense and inside the far post.
Nine minutes before the interval, Petar Sucic slipped Thuram through inside the Torino box, and the Frenchman finished with ease from an acute angle to double Inter’s lead.
The goal appeared to free Inter up creatively in attack, with both the forwards and midfield carving out chance after chance against a disorganized Torino defense who looked relieved at the halftime whistle.
Inter carried their superiority into the second half, as Lautaro Martinez pounced on a misplaced Torino back pass in the box and calmly slotted home Inter’s third seven minutes in.
Thuram continued the onslaught in the 62nd minute when he rose high to head in a cross from Bastoni.
In the 72nd minute Torino were punished again for sloppy defending when Denzel Dumfries intercepted a misplaced pass out from the back. A quick exchange of passes left Ange-Yoan Bonny unmarked in the box, and he calmly slotted home to complete the rout.
It was Inter’s first victory by at least five goals in a season opener since 1961.
By the time Cameron Menzies finally left the arena on Monday, the blood gushing from the gash on his right hand had trickled down his wrist, part of his forearm and — somehow — up to his face. Smeared in crimson and regret, and already mouthing sheepish apologies to the crowd, he disappeared down the steps, pursued by a stern-looking Matt Porter, the chief executive of Professional Darts Corp (PDC). The physical scars from Menzies’ encounter with the Alexandra Palace drinks table after his 3-2 defeat against Charlie Manby at the Darts World Championship would be gone within a few weeks.
Manchester United on Monday blew the lead three times to miss out on moving up to fifth in the Premier League as AFC Bournemouth would not be beaten in a thrilling 4-4 draw at Old Trafford. United have lost just once in their past 10 games, but Ruben Amorim would be frustrated as more points at home were frittered away despite arguably the best attacking display of his reign in charge. Amad Diallo and Casemiro gave the hosts a halftime lead either side of Antoine Semenyo’s equalizer. Two Bournemouth goals from Evanilson and Marcus Tavernier in seven minutes at the start of the
LOW-GOAL SHOOT-OUT: Of the nine penalties in the shoot-out, only three went in, with Flamengo’s Samuel Lino, and Vitinha and Nuno Mendes of PSG netting Matvei Safonov on Wednesday made four straight penalty saves in a penalty shoot-out to help Paris Saint-Germain beat Flamengo in the Intercontinental Cup final and win a sixth trophy of the year. The Russian goalkeeper was thrown in the air by his teammates after his exploits in the shoot-out, which was won 2-1 by PSG after a 1-1 draw after extra-time. It completed a trophy-laden 12 months for the French team, who had already won the Trophee des Champions, Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup — also on penalties against Tottenham Hotspur in
LACKLUSTER FIGHT: At one stage, the referee lost patience with the two fighters, warning them in the fourth round that ‘the fans did not pay to see this crap’ Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on Friday knocked out YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in their controversial Netflix-backed bout in Miami. The fight at the Kaseya Center, which saw both men reportedly splitting a mammoth purse of US$184 million, had triggered alarm across boxing due to the gulf in physical size and class between Britain’s two-time former world champion Joshua and Paul, an Internet personality who has forged a lucrative career through a handful of novelty boxing contests. However, in the event, Joshua made hard work of defeating his vastly less accomplished opponent, before his superior size and power eventually told
RSS