Milan, December 23 (BNA): Denzel Dumfries scored his second goal in two matches to lift Inter Milan seven points at the top with a 1-0 victory over Torino on Wednesday, raising the champions’ tally to seven points. matches.
Simone Inzaghi’s side were already guaranteed to go into mid-season break as the “Winter Champions,” the name given to the league leaders midway through the season, rising to 46 points, seven points behind Milan and Napoli, Reuters reports.
This was Inter’s 32nd Serie A win in 2021, which they lost only once in a calendar year in Serie A, to Juventus in 2016 with 33.
“It was an important win, we knew Torino were a difficult team to face. We’ve done well in our preparations over the past few days, we knew they were under heavy pressure and that they would try to disrupt our game.”
“We played a great game and hardly risked anything. We are very satisfied with the way we finished the year.”
Dutch international Dumfries scored the goal after 30 minutes, calmly ending a counter-attack that started on the edge of the Inter penalty area.
Torino put up a strong challenge but could not find a way to beat Inter, who kept their sixth clean sheet in a row.
The visiting team’s career ended in four matches unbeaten, making it 11th with 25 points.
Inter achieved an impressive streak of league after the international break in November, winning all seven of their matches on aggregate 20-2.
They weren’t at their best against Ivan Juric’s well-punched side, but Dumfries scored a low goal in the bottom corner to complete a quick reply half an hour later.
The goal made Inter the second team in the past 50 years to score at least 49 goals in their first 19 games of the Serie A season, after Atalanta in the 2019-20 season.
Inter Milan captain Samir Handanovic made a brilliant save to stop Sasa Lukic’s free kick, but substitute Alexis Sanchez approached the second goal with a shot that hit the post.
In Rome, Roma were frustrated with a 1-1 draw with Sampdoria, with Eldor Shumorodov hitting the hosts ahead in the second half only to equalize Manolo Gabbiadini eight minutes later.
Jose Mourinho’s team is still in sixth place with 32 points, with Fiorentina, who drew 1-1 with Hellas Verona, who plays in the middle of the field after Gaetano Castrovelli’s header, which canceled the opening match of Kevin Lasagna.