A trip to beautiful Sardinia saw Inter reward themselves with their most devastating victory of the season as the Islanders were unable to stop a clinical Nerazzurri at the Sant’Elia.

 

It was absolutely imperative that Inter and Pioli got back on track after a sorry defeat at home to Roma last time out and the coach was very happy to welcome back Miranda and put him straight into the starting XI as Inter fielded an offensive looking 4-2-3-1 formation.  Marcelo Brozovic was the only key absentee from the side but his presence was not missed as the players on display hardly put a foot wrong all game. 

 

Ever Banega’s inclusion was one that may have raised a few eyebrows following solid performances from big money signing Joao Mario, however any doubts were quashed as the classy Argentine showed tremendous vision and technique to pick out Ivan Perisic with a lovely pass which was duly finished off by the Croatian. Just five minutes later he stepped up to curl in a marvellous free kick to give Inter a two goal lead. Playing in his favoured position, Banega showed us there is no doubting his quality, he now just needs to find the consistency to go with his class as he looked very assured with the ball whilst on the pitch. 



 

To be fair to Cagliari, they did at one stage look like levelling the scores as Marco Borriello pulled one back and it then took a save from Handanovic to keep out a threatening header from Ionita. The Slovenian goal keeper has had a phenomenal campaign and his value to the side shouldn’t be underestimated, it should be a priority of the owners to tie down the Slovenian as he continues to be linked with a move away from the San Siro this summer.
 

Another Inter player linked with a transfer and who has been excellent this season is Ivan Perisic. The 28-year-old winger put in another man of the match performance on Sunday which included two very well taken goals bringing his season total to an impressive nine. With much talk in Milan being focused at who’s coming in and how much the Suning group are willing to spend, let’s hope the attention inside the club is being focused on tying down their key men for next season, when they can make a full charge for Champions League football. 


 

Finally, to top off the five star performance, it was delightful to see Roberto Gagliardini bag his first goal for the club after a string of impressive displays. The goal couldn’t have come at a better time, as its leaves himself and Inter full of confidence as they head into their next massive match against his former side and their high flying rivals Atalanta. 


Ciro Di Baselli