Cagliari's winning streak ended against Inter, who lost 0-2 at Unipol Domus. Lautaro Martínez and Francesco Pio Esposito scored, while Belotti's injury remains a concern.
Cagliari— set up in a 3-4-2-1 with Sebastiano Esposito and Folorunsho behind Belotti —started aggressively, but Inter scored with their first chance: in the ninth minute, Bastoni crossed from the left to the far post, and Lautaro Martínez leaped well above Obert and headed the ball past Caprile . It was the Argentine's twelfth goal in as many games against the Rossoblu, by far the team he'd been hit the hardest by in his career. In the 14th minute, former striker Barella entered the box and exchanged passes with Lautaro Martínez. Thuram tried to backheel the ball back to him, but Mina decisively beat him to it.
Inter were back in the game in the 26th minute, with a pass to Carlos Augusto on the left, whose cross Thuram attempted to backheel: it was weak, but Caprile easily blocked it. The Nerazzurri controlled the game, with Cagliari often struggling to get out of their own half . In the 38th minute, Thuram looked for space for his right foot, but his shot went high. The Rossoblu tried to make their presence felt in the 40th minute, with a nice through ball from Adopo to Sebastiano Esposito, who was blocked by Akanji's defensive tackle.
On a pass in the 42nd minute, Belotti was beaten by Josep Martínez (who was offside): the striker fell badly and lay on the ground in pain, forcing him to be replaced by Prati. Gallo's initial diagnosis is a sprained left knee, which needs to be evaluated . The match goes to halftime after three minutes of injury time.
Inter's second half resumed immediately with Dimarco replacing Carlos Augusto (the only yellow card). The visitors could have doubled their lead in the 53rd minute, with a well-executed move and an assist from the right by Barella for Çalhanoğlu, whose right-footed shot from the edge of the area was incredibly soft, leaving Caprile helpless until the post saved it . A minute later, the Cagliari goalkeeper denied Thuram, who had a superb run past Mina on the right before firing into the box. Dimarco's cross-shot, however, narrowly missed the Frenchman's chance to double the lead.
Pisacane realized that Cagliari were struggling too much and increased his technical level in the 58th minute: Deiola and Zé Pedro were replaced by Gaetano and Felici, who immediately led to a yellow card for Barella . Chivu responded with Francesco Pio Esposito (who began the match with his brother Sebastiano) for Thuram and Frattesi for Barella (64'). Caprile risked a reckless exit outside the box in the 67th minute, but Lautaro Martínez anticipated him with a header but failed to hit the target.
In the 72nd minute, Dumfries replaced Luis Henrique for the Nerazzurri. A minute later, Cagliari had a golden opportunity, with a corner for Folorunsho's header that hit the post to deny the number 90 a 1-1 draw . Pisacane went all out in the 77th minute, with Idrissi and Borrelli coming on for Obert and Folorunsho, and it was Sadali's full-back who saved in the 81st minute after a deflection from Frattesi. But Inter doubled their lead on the following move, with Dimarco's cross deflected to the far post by Francesco Pio Esposito's right-footed strike, his first Serie A goal .
In the final minutes, Mkhitaryan (85') hit the far post for Inter, his third of the evening, after running away from Prati on the center-left. Gaetano also had a go in the 86th minute following a corner, but it went just over. The match ended in the 93rd minute .
