Inter 3-0 Fiorentina: Chivu's side bounce back with routine victory
A brace from Hakan Calhanoglu and clinical finish from Petar Sucic helped Inter beat Fiorentina 3-0 at the San Siro on Wednesday.
Inter returned to winning ways in Serie A with a 3-0 victory against Fiorentina at the San Siro.
After falling to a 3-1 defeat against Napoli at the weekend, goals from Hakan Calhanoglu either side of Petar Sucic's strike saw the hosts move up to third in the league, three points behind the reigning champions and Roma.
It was a quiet opening 45 minutes from both sides, but David De Gea was still called upon by his team as the visiting goalkeeper denied Alessandro Bastoni and Federico Dimarco ahead of the break.
Inter piled the pressure on at the start of the second half and should have taken the lead through Dimarco, but the marauding defender somehow fired wide of the target following a cutback from Lautaro Martinez.
But the pressure eventually told on De Gea's net soon after the hour mark, with Calhanoglu finding space on the edge of the box before picking out the bottom corner, leaving the Spaniard with no chance of saving it in the 66th minute.
And five minutes later, Sucic doubled their advantage after rolling the ball past Pietro Comuzzo in the box before finishing past De Gea with ease.
Calhanoglu then wrapped up the scoring from the penalty spot, sending his effort from 12 yards beyond the reach of De Gea after Mattia Viti was shown a second yellow card following a foul on Ange-Yoan Bonny in the box.
Data Debrief: Calhanoglu provides a much-needed lift
Inter produced 2.72 expected goals (xG) from 22 shots to Fiorentina's 0.77 from 10 attempts, but the visitors' stubborn defence were growing in confidence before Calhanoglu's opener.
The Turkish midfielder has now scored five goals in seven Serie A appearances this season, as many as he scored in 29 league matches last season.
He has also scored more goals against Fiorentina (seven) than any other team in Europe's top five leagues, while Inter have won at least four of their first five home games of a league campaign for just the third time in the last 15 seasons (also in 2017-18 and 2022-23).
