Inter have punished Benevento 4-0 at home. An own goal, goal from Lautaro and double from Lukaku would’ve definitely given Inter confidence.
This puts Inter two points behind first place with some challenging fixtures coming up. Especially the mouth-watering fixture coming up in mid February against Milan.
Furthermore to the clean sheet, Inter would stop Benevento from having any shooting chances all match. Even from the stands, Conte’s tactics showed greatly on the pitch with fantastic success.
A fixture we wish we could have again, as Inter really flexed their strength to dominate their opponents in every situation of the match.
Let’s look a bit further into the key points of the match.
Exactly what Inter needed –
This is the perfect match to gain confidence before a really tough run coming up. The result 4-0 means more 3 points, as we saw Eriksen play his best game in an Inter shirt. This will allow Conte to replace Brozovic when needed as he is only 1 yellow card away from a suspension.
The form of Eriksen has been inconsistent, so saying he had his best Inter game really means nothing if he can’t back it up. We may blame it on Conte for Eriksen not playing much, but maybe that kick in the guts was exactly what Eriksen needed to wake up and start playing good football.
The matches coming up against Juventus, Fiorentina, Lazio and Milan in the next month will show where Inter is at. Winning all these matches will slingshot Inter’s momentum so far forward, I would doubt anyone could catch Inter in the league.
Clutch –
In the first half, some fans were wondering if Lukaku was even on the pitch. Well, the beast would awaken in the second half and so would Inter.
All Lukaku needed was a sniff, and he would bag a brace. His ability to convert chances now sees Big Rom one goal behind Ronaldo for top goal scorer in the league.
Two shots in the whole match for two goals, so hopefully this will put him back in the sensational form which Lukaku started the season with.
Out of the top 10 goal scorers in the league, Lukaku leads both goal conversation rate (36%) and shot percentage on target (64%). Remarkable statistics for Lukaku as he has scored 14 goals from 39 shots altogether.
Where to next?
A mid week Coppa Italia semi-final against Juventus awaits a confident Inter side. As we know, these two teams met only a couple of weeks ago where Inter were victorious 2-0.
Fingers crossed for a similar type of result.
Written by Matthew Pickham
