MILAN: Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martinez set up the opening goal and scored two of his own as his side beat Fiorentina 4-3 in a thrilling Serie A game on Saturday.

Inter opened the scoring after two minutes when Argentine Martinez’s perfectly-timed through ball sent Nicolo Barella clear on goal and the midfielder had no problem putting the ball into the lower left corner.

Fiorentina recovered after the shock start and started to build up momentum, with Jonathan Ikone’s curled shot after 10 minutes going just wide.

Martinez doubled the lead after 15 minutes with a superb solo effort when he ran into the box, dribbled past defender Lucas Martinez Quarta and calmly sent the ball into the bottom corner.

Fiorentina reduced the deficit in the 33rd minute when Arthur Cabral converted a penalty before Ikone equalised for the home side with a beautifully curled shot into the top corner on the hour mark.

Tempers flared in the final 10 minutes of the first half. Four yellow cards were given out when the referee whistled for halftime, including one for Inzaghi for dissent.

Martinez put Inter back into the lead from the penalty spot in the 73rd minute before Luka Jovic again levelled the scores in the 90th minute.

Five minutes into stoppage time, Henrikh Mkhitaryan secured the win for the visitors when he scored from a failed clearance by defender Lorenzo Venuti.

Earlier, Spain attacking midfielder Brahim Diaz scored twice as AC Milan beat Monza 4-1 to go above Atalanta to second in Serie A.

Diaz doubled his goal tally for the season with first half efforts before Belgium’s Divock Origi and Portugal’s Rafael Leao contributed after the break to send the champions behind leaders Napoli on points difference.

Diaz opened the scoring in San Siro after 16 minutes after a long-range run was finished with a sliding effort.

Origi was on the scoresheet for the first time the league this season after 65 minutes as he fired his effort into the top corner.

Monza claimed one back five minutes later as Filippo Ranocchia scored a superb free-kick for the outfit based to the north of the city.

Earlier, former France International Franck Ribery bid a tearful farewell to football as he took a lap of honour ahead of Salernitana’s 1-0 win at home to Spezia. The 39-year-old announced his retirement on Friday after succumbing to a persistent knee injury which had kept him out of action since the opening weekend of the season.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2022