A strong first half wasn't enough for Cagliari, who lost 3-0 to league leaders Inter. Thuram and former Nerazzurri legend Barella scored for the Nerazzurri early in the second half. Zieliński closed the scoring with a gem.
In the Rossoblu's 3-5-2 formation, Ibrahim Sulemana emerged victorious, replacing Luca Mazzitelli, who was injured against Cremonese, ahead of Alessandro Deiola and Michael Folorunsho. Within a minute, Cagliari were immediately dangerous, with Gaetano making a run through the middle and reaching twenty meters to shoot. His shot was deflected for a corner, but de Vrij headed it past Mina from the corner. Pisacane's team got off to a great start, with Sebastiano Esposito (following a Palestra play) scoring in the third minute, and Josep Martínez—played in place of Sommer tonight—slamming it out for a corner.
Cagliari found space in the opposition defense and came close to scoring in the 12th minute: Obert found Borrelli from the left, but the center forward couldn't find the space to shoot, but Palestra found him, and his first-time right-footed shot into the penalty area went over . Inter's first big chance came in the 16th minute, a one-two between Thuram and Pio Esposito. The latter couldn't close down (the Nerazzurri's number 94 couldn't reach the return pass), but the rebound favored Dimarco, whose left-footed shot was blocked in the six-yard box by Adopo, leaving Caprile beaten. In the 19th minute, number 32 again looked for Pio Esposito, but Mina saved his volley.
Cagliari were booked twice in quick succession between the 23rd and 25th minutes, first by Sebastiano Esposito for a late foul on Mkhitaryan, and then by Borrelli for slamming on de Vrij. Inter returned to attack in the 32nd minute, Dimarco's cross went over Caprile, and Adopo was instrumental in getting ahead of Thuram in the six-yard box. This resulted in three consecutive corners for the Nerazzurri, with Dumfries' final header going over. . The half-time break followed two minutes of added time.
