UDINE: Lautaro Martinez made sure that Inter Milan put pressure on their Serie A title rivals with the only goal in Saturday’s 1-0 win at Udinese which provisionally extended his team’s league lead to six points.

Martinez expertly poked home the winner in the 20th minute in Udine to continue Inter’s eight-match unbeaten run in Italy’s top flight.

Inter have collected 25 points from a possible 27 since losing the Milan derby the end of November and again showed a ruthlessness in dispatching the also-rans that both AC Milan and Napoli have lacked.

Inter move to 49 points, six ahead of Milan who play Lecce at home on Sunday, with third-placed Napoli on 40 points with a game in hand. Udinese remain 10th in the standings on 26 points.

The game, like all Serie A fixtures this weekend, was preceded by a minute’s silence in memory of Fiorentina owner Rocco Commisso whose death was announced earlier on Saturday.

The visitors were on the attack from the off and went ahead through Martinez but, despite dominating the game, Inter were unable to find any further goals.

Second-placed Milan host Lecce on Sunday night with a six-point gap separating them from local rivals Inter even though the seven-time European champions haven’t lost since the opening day of the season.

Massimiliano Allegri’s side have dropped a host of points to teams they should beat, starting back in August against Jamie Vardy’s Cremonese who remain the only team to get three points from Milan.

Inter meanwhile have the opposite problem, with a poor track record in matches against high-profile opposition, a weakness which will be tested by Premier League leaders Arsenal on Tuesday night.

Four straight wins at the start of the league phase of the Champions League were followed up by two defeats which have left direct qualification for the last-16 in doubt.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2026