‘Inter deservedly beat a very strong Napoli’ – Simone Inzaghi

closed the gap to five points on joint leader

and

at the top of the Serie A table with a 3-2 win over

Luciano Spalletti

’s side at the San Siro on Sunday.

Napoli took the lead after 17 minutes thanks to a powerful strike from

Piotr Zielinski

, but

Hakan Calhanoglu

scored the equalizer from the spot eight minutes later before

Ivan Perisic

’s header gave the host the lead at the break.

Lautaro Martinez

put them 3-1 up after he sent his shot into the far corner of the net.

Dries Mertens

came off the bench and scored from 25 yards, but it was not enough as Inter closed out the match to take all three points.

“It was a key game for the season, although the most important one will be in three days’ time,”

Inzaghi

told

DAZN

, referring to the Champions League showdown with

.

“We beat a very strong Napoli side and we did it deservedly too. It’s always going to be a struggle against Napoli, especially as they have on average the highest possession statistics in Serie A this season with 60 percent.

“I had players out of action, many who returned late after long journeys from halfway across the world. Edin Dzeko was not at his best either and Correa felt a twinge, otherwise I wouldn’t have substituted him.”

Inter suffered in the stoppages to finally get their first win against one of the top clubs.

“We had been a whisker away from winning several of the other head-to-head clashes, so a little fear was inevitable towards the end during eight minutes of stoppages.”

Nicolò Barella

was causing problems for

Fabian Ruiz

in midfield, tactically neutralizing Napoli in the first half.

“He did really well, as usually Napoli build with three, but they stuck more with their full-backs staying in place and we had to make some adjustments. Barella and Marcelo Brozovic had a great game.

“I said yesterday that I was not remotely worried, as Lautaro Martinez has been playing well and scored a great goal today. I was a striker, so I know there are moments when the ball doesn’t want to go in, but he stayed calm and focused. We must continue like this.”

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