Serie A | Inter 3-0 Parma: Calhanoglu back to ruin Gilardino debut

Inter crushed Parma 3-0 to spoil Alberto Gilardino’s debut with Petar Sucic, Hakan Calhanoglu and Marcus Thuram on target, while Djed Spence made his Serie A bow.

The Nerazzurri welcomed Hakan Calhanoglu and Federico Dimarco back, but lost Curtis Jones with John Stones, while some internationals were rested ahead of the Champions League with Club Brugge. Parma sacked Carlos Cuesta despite the 2-1 victory over Genoa, so this was the debut on the bench for Alberto Gilardino. Pontus Almqvist, Abdoulaye Ndiaye and Hans Nicolussi Caviglia were out of action.

Dimarco’s volley was well saved by Edoardo Corvi in the opening minutes and El-Bilal Toure saw his curler flash just past the far top corner.

However, the ferocious Inter press proved very effective, as Petar Sucic pounced on the weak Corvi pass out from the back to Mandela Keita and smashed into the net.

Referee Walter Bonacina did not spot Diego Carlos clumsily treading on Pio Esposito’s foot in the penalty area, but pointed to the spot after he was alerted by VAR. Calhanoglu converted hard and low, squirming under Corvi’s arm.

Marcus Thuram was born in Parma and scored against them for the fifth time in as many meetings, running onto the Henrikh Mkhitaryan slide-rule pass to go on the counter and placing a precise angled drive past Corvi into the far bottom corner.

Corvi stuck out a foot to parry the Esposito tap-in from point-blank range on a Dimarco pull-back, while an acrobatic Mkhitaryan overhead kick flashed past the post.

Djed Spence finally made his Inter debut after the summer transfer from Tottenham Hotspur, greeted with a colossal cheer from the crowd, while David Romero blasted over after Mariano Troilo robbed Sucic to spark a counter-attack.

Spence stood up a cross for Lautaro Martinez’s header to land on the roof of the net, with Aleksandar Stankovic and Romero drilling off target, but the result truly never seemed to be in the slightest doubt at San Siro.

Inter 3-0 Parma

Sucic 13 (I), Calhanoglu pen 18 (I), Thuram 31 (I)

Player statistic

Starting lineups

Substitutes