MILAN, Jan 23 : Inter Milan found themselves two goals down to relegation-battling Pisa but fought back to earn a 6-2 win at the San Siro on Saturday, as the hosts continue to set the pace at the top of the Serie A standings.
Stefano Moreo scored twice to put Pisa 2-0 up, the first thanks to a howler from goalkeeper Yann Sommer, but Inter were ahead by the break. Piotr Zielinski converted a penalty and Lautaro Martinez and Francesco Pio Esposito both scored with headers.
Inter missed plenty of chances to put Pisa away in the second half before Federico Dimarco found the net eight minutes from time, with Ange-Yoan Bonny and Henrikh Mkhitaryan netting late on to add some gloss to the victory.
“There was the desire to win the game, we didn’t start very well but the important thing was to score at least one goal in the first half and we scored three,” Dimarco told DAZN.
“It happens to make a mistake in the approach by playing so much, the important thing was to overturn it.”
Inter move to 52 points, six ahead of second-placed AC Milan who are away to AS Roma on Sunday, with champions Napoli third on 43 points before facing Juventus. Pisa are bottom of the standings on 14 points.
Inter controlled the early exchanges before gifting Pisa an 11th minute lead. Sommer came out of his area to collect a backpass but his wayward ball to Zielinski was met first time by Moreo’s lobbed effort from distance with the keeper in no man’s land.
Pisa doubled their lead 12 minutes later when Moreo met Matteo Tramoni’s corner at the near post to power a header past Sommer.
Inter were handed a lifeline six minutes before the break when Zielinski’s shot was handled by Tramoni in the area. Zielinski stepped up and smashed the spot kick down the middle into the roof of the net.
The hosts were level two minutes later, with Martinez heading home Dimarco’s floated ball into the six-yard area. In stoppage time before the interval, Esposito powered a header into the net from Alessandro Bastoni’s cross.
Dimarco’s volleyed effort hit both posts before crossing the line as Inter finally made their second-half dominance pay and four minutes from the end Bonny collected Dimarco’s pass, drove forward into the box and found the net from a wide angle.
Mkhitaryan bundled a header over the line after a corner in stoppage time and Inter can now focus again on the Champions League where they travel to face Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday.
