New coach Andrea Stramaccioni opened his Inter Milan account with a thrilling and vital 5-4 win over Genoa at San Siro on Sunday to keep alive the nerazzurri’s European qualification hopes. With Roma romping to a 5-2 win over Novara earlier in the day, Inter needed a victory to keep in the hunt for a Europa League spot. They now trail Roma, who are sixth and occupy the final European qualification berth, by three points with eight games left.
At 36, Stramaccioni may be the youngest coach in Inter’s history but he turned to experience for his first game in charge, restoring the likes of Esteban Cambiasso and Cristian Chivu to the starting line-up. And the old guard rewarded him as Diego Milito hit a hat-trick against his former employers, while Walter Samuel and Mauro Zarate added the other two. Alberto Gilardino scored a brace from the spot for the visitors, with Emiliano Moretti and Rodrigo Palacio — also with a penalty — adding the others.
It was a game that had four penalties and two red cards, with Inter goalkeeper Julio Cesar and Genoa’s Fernando Belluschi both dismissed. “The important thing is that we won. Certainly it was an explosive victory, maybe even a bit too much so for (president Massimo) Moratti,” said Stramaccioni. “It’s banal to say that it was important to win but we worked during the week only on this and we managed it. “We were very positive today and we managed to produce a performance of quality.” “As for me, the president has given me this crazy opportunity that I didn’t deserve but him having faith in me gives me great serenity.”
Having failed to score in seven of their last 10 league games, of which they only won one, under Claudio Ranieri, Inter were greatly helped by the league’s worst defence. Diego Forlan found space on the left to cross for Milito to head home unmarked from the middle of the box. Milito refused to celebrate the goal against his former club and he was soon trying to control his emotions again as Dejan Stankovic’s ball over the top of a woeful offside trap released him to smash the ball past Sebastien Frey.
Such was the new-found swagger with which Inter were going about their work that centre-backs Lucio and Samuel combined for the third goal, the former crossing for the latter to prod home from inside the six-yard box.
Genoa hit back, however, as Moretti fortuitously turned home Giuseppe Sculli’s overhead kick with his thigh and Palacio scored from the spot after Javier Zanetti was adjudged to have handled.
Zarate restored the two-goal advantage with a curling effort from the left edge of the box but Julio Cesar was then dismissed for bringing down Palacio. Gilardino took and scored this penalty, only for Belluschi to be dismissed at the other end for fouling Fredy Guarin. Milito completed his hat-trick from the spot but Lucio brought down Sculli and Gilardino added his second in the last minute.
Roma’s easy victory kept alive their hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League. They trail city rivals Lazio, who lost 3-1 at Parma on Saturday, by just four points in the race for third place and the final berth in Europe’s premier club competition. Novara took the lead early on through Andrea Caracciolo but after that there was only ever going to be one winner. Brazilian Marquinho and Pablo Osvaldo hit back before half-time, while another Brazilian, Fabio Simplicio, and Bojan Krkic struck in the second period. Japan forward Takayuki Morimoto scored a late consolation for the struggling visitors, who remain second-bottom and nine points from safety, before Erik Lamela put the icing on the cake deep into injury time.
