Hakan Calhanoglu’s second goal in as many games proved enough for Inter to take the points from Cagliari, but were almost made to pay for wasteful finishing.
The Nerazzurri had opened the season with a 4-1 victory over Monza, but brought in Benjamin Pavard, Petar Sucic and Luis Henrique, with Curtis Jones on the bench for the first time, and Djed Spence still working on his fitness. The Sardinians started with a surprise 1-0 victory away to Parma, but were without Yerry Mina and Riyad Idrissi. Yael Trepy was released from hospital this week, 10 days after nearly drowning in a swimming pool.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
It took just nine minutes to break the deadlock, as native son of Cagliari Nicolò Barella cut inside from the right and rolled across for Hakan Calhanoglu to swing the right-boot first time from outside the area to drill with precision into the bottom corner.
Lautaro Martinez flashed a finish wide on the turn, while Manuel Akanji nodded a Federico Dimarco free kick past the far post. Elia Caprile kept the scoreline down, as his gloves were stung by Barella’s scorcher, then he was alert for a desperate save to push the powerful Dimarco volley over the bar.
Caprile rushed off his line too late to intercept the Barella volley, but was rescued by Juan Rodriguez clearing practically off the line.
Alessandro Deiola threw himself in the way of a Lautaro Martinez finish after Petar Sucic rolled across, while Luis Henrique fired just over from a smart Lautaro Martinez through ball.
Dimarco couldn’t keep his first-time finish on target from the Esposito back-heel flick, then Esposito stung Caprile’s gloves while slipping over from the edge of the area.
After the restart, Caprile had to get down quickly to palm the Esposito effort off the line from another Barella assist, but Cagliari did fight back on the hour mark.
Rodriguez tackled Esposito for Alieu Fadera’s cross to the back post, where Josep Martinez had to fingertip the ball away from Kevin Carlos sliding in.
Moments later, the Inter goalkeeper had to sprint outside his penalty area to clear from Kevin Carlos after the offside trap failed on a Michel Adopo pass.
Curtis Jones made his debut with John Stones also off the bench, and Alessandro Bastoni failed to keep the finish on target from a Dimarco pull-back.
Marcus Thuram couldn’t steer his header into the empty net as Caprile came flying out, then turned wide on another Dimarco roll across from the left.
Adam Obert blasted just over from a very difficult angle, but Adopo thought he had equalised with a ferocious hit on the loose ball from 10 yards, denied by the most desperate Yann Bisseck block. On the resulting corner, Gennaro Borrelli steered a header wide.
Lautaro Martinez sprung the offside trap to sting Caprile’s gloves at the near stick, but Cagliari pushed to the very end.
Cagliari 0-1 Inter
Calhanoglu 9 (I)
Player statistic
| 9′ |  |
Hakan Calhanoglu
(Assist: Nicolò Barella)
|
||
| 14′ | Manuel Akanji |
| Alessandro Deiola | 56′ | |||
| Kevin Carlos |  |
88′ |
Match statistic
Cagliari
Inter
Starting lineups
Substitutes
