{"id":54952,"date":"2026-03-01T11:07:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T11:07:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsvog.com\/ur\/54952"},"modified":"2026-03-01T11:07:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T11:07:43","slug":"inter-continue-scudetto-march-after-champions-league-humbling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsvog.com\/ur\/54952","title":{"rendered":"Inter continue Scudetto march after Champions League humbling"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div style=\"min-height:300px\">\n<p><strong>Inter Milan bounced back from Champions League elimination with Saturday\u2019s 2-0 win over Genoa which continued their march towards the Serie A title.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Federico Dimarco\u2019s brilliant volley just after the half-hour mark and Hakan Calhanoglu\u2019s second-half penalty were enough for Inter to extend their already huge lead over AC Milan at the top of the table to 13 points.<\/p>\n<p>Milan will be favourites to win at Cremonese in Sunday\u2019s early fixture, with the local rivals set to face off next weekend in a match which will in all likelihood have little impact on the destination of the Scudetto.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe got the job done\u2026 in the end what matters is the team,\u201d said Dimarco who has scored seven goals and set up 15 more in all competitions this season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf my goals and assists don\u2019t give us trophies they won\u2019t be worth very much. I\u2019d rather have fewer goals and assists if it means us winning the league.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Inter, whose fans unloaded a collection of anti-Milan chants in anticipation of the derby, have dropped just two points in 15 league matches and have been a cut above the rest in Italy\u2019s top flight this season.<\/p>\n<p>Their domestic dominance comes in stark contrast to the humiliating manner in which they were dumped out of the Champions League by Bodo\/Glimt on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n<p>A 5-2 aggregate defeat to the Norwegian minnows cast doubts over not just the quality of Cristian Chivu\u2019s team but of Italian football as a whole.<\/p>\n<p>There was plenty of quality in Dimarco\u2019s opener however, the Italy full-back beautifully placing a first-time finish from a tight angle after exchanging passes with Henrikh Mkhitaryan.<\/p>\n<p>Little else happened in a humdrum encounter until Alex Amorim handled a cross from Luis Henrique, whose shot had been tipped onto the post just moments before.<\/p>\n<p>Calhanoglu calmly stroked home the spot-kick on his return to action following niggling muscle problems which have caused him issues since before Christmas, sealing the points for Inter.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Big Rom back \u2013<br \/>Romelu Lukaku kept Napoli on course for a Champions League spot with a last-gasp winner in the champions\u2019 2-1 victory over rock-bottom Verona, the Belgium forward\u2019s first goal of the season.<\/p>\n<p>Lukaku forced home Giovane\u2019s cross to snatch the win for third-placed Napoli with the last kick of the game at the Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi.<\/p>\n<p>Napoli had looked like dropping points in northern Italy when Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro levelled Rasmus Hojlund\u2019s early opener in the 65th minute.<\/p>\n<p>But Lukaku, who only played his first game of the season in late January, gave Napoli a huge win with both Como and Atalanta pushing for a top-four placing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was a dead player before coming here,\u201d said Lukaku to DAZN.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis season has been difficult, but we\u2019ve got to aim high.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Napoli\u2019s title defence is all but over as they trail Inter by 14 points after an injury-ravaged season.<\/p>\n<p>Napoli were missing key midfielders Scott McTominay, Kevin De Bruyne and Andre-Frank Anguissa on Saturday, as well as captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo.<\/p>\n<p>Verona, under interim coach Paolo Sammarco following the sacking of Paolo Zanetti earlier this month, are 10 points from safety after a 12th straight match without a win.<\/p>\n<p>Como, who face Inter in the first leg of the Italian Cup semi-finals on Tuesday, strolled to a 3-1 victory over strugglers Lecce to continue their push for a first-ever qualification for European football.<\/p>\n<p>Cesc Fabregas\u2019s team are two points behind Roma, in fourth and Juventus\u2019 opponents on Sunday, and five behind Napoli.<\/p>\n<p>Como are also two points ahead of sixth-placed Juve who face Roma trying to stay in touch with the Champions League places after being eliminated from Europe\u2019s elite club competition by Galatasaray on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/arynews.tv\/inter-continue-scudetto-march-after-champions-league-humbling\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Inter Milan bounced back from Champions League elimination with Saturday\u2019s 2-0 win over Genoa which continued their march towards the Serie A title. Federico Dimarco\u2019s brilliant volley just after the half-hour mark and Hakan Calhanoglu\u2019s second-half penalty were enough for Inter to extend their already huge lead over AC Milan at the top of the table to 13 points. Milan&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54953,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":16,"label":"Pakistan"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/newsvog.com\/ur\/wp-content\/uploads\/1772363263_unnamed-file.jpg",750,369,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"frkhokhar@gmail.com","author_link":"https:\/\/newsvog.com\/ur\/author\/frkhokhargmail-com"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":16,"name":"Pakistan","slug":"pakistan","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":16,"taxonomy":"category","description":"All about Pakistan","parent":0,"count":2563,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":16,"category_count":2563,"category_description":"All about Pakistan","cat_name":"Pakistan","category_nicename":"pakistan","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsvog.com\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsvog.com\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsvog.com\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsvog.com\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsvog.com\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsvog.com\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsvog.com\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsvog.com\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsvog.com\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsvog.com\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}