Mauro Icardi said scoring his 100th Serie A goal against former side Sampdoria was his "destiny" after leading Inter's 5-0 rout with a haul of four.

Inter blew their hosts away on Sunday, with Ivan Perisic opening the scoring before Icardi took over.

The striker was given his first taste of senior football by Sampdoria before joining Inter for €6million in July 2013, where he has blossomed into one of Serie A's best attackers, as evidenced by his four-goal showing in Genoa.

His first on the day, a penalty, saw him take his tally to 100 in Serie A for the two sides, while his fourth moved him on to a century in all competitions for Inter.

And reaching such milestones against Sampdoria was fitting, Icardi thought.

"I've scored 100 goals in Serie A and 100 with Inter, I'm happy but I didn't expect them to come today," Icardi is quoted as saying by Inter's official website.

"I scored my first goal in the top flight here – it was destiny. But the win was the most important thing.

"I also went through a difficult time with my injury, I had something bothering me and I couldn't play without having it on my mind.

"Now it's just an unpleasant memory. I'm back available and I want to help the team."

The emphatic victory saw Inter put the disappointment of last week's goalless draw with Napoli behind them and Icardi felt they "needed" a response like the one they produced.

"We needed a match like that because we had to win today after the 0-0 with Napoli," he added. "We had the right approach and that showed with the result.

"The coach knows how to manage certain moments, he provoked us a bit and we needed to show that we had quality today.

"Today it was on show, but we can obviously improve further and we must do so."