The San Siro crowd was treated to an exciting start between last season’s top two sides, as Andy Diouf tested Alex Meret with a first-time shot from the edge of the box in the third minute.
At the other end, Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa drilled a low strike through a crowd, forcing a smart reflex stop from Josep Martinez, who had to be alert to thwart Matteo Politano’s follow-up from a tight angle. Anguissa threatened again when he swept a deflected shot just wide midway through the first period, but the game’s tempo had begun to wane by this stage.
The lull in play perhaps favoured Napoli, and they arguably should have gone into the break ahead thanks to Rasmus Hojlund, yet his close-range attempt lacked sufficient power and direction to beat Martinez at his near post.
Thankfully for the Dane, that wasted opportunity wasn’t immediately punished when Federico Dimarco’s free-kick attempt cannoned off the crossbar.
Despite that near-miss to round off the first-half action, Cristian Chivu was evidently unsatisfied with what he had seen, introducing Marcus Thuram and new signing Curtis Jones ahead of the restart.
But if the Inter boss was unhappy before, he would have been furious after a pair of quickfire goals left his side with a mountain to climb. A defensive lapse surrendered possession deep in Nerazzurri territory, and after an Alisson Santos shot had been parried into Politano’s path, the winger buried at the second attempt.
Just three minutes later, Inter again switched off defensively as the ball stopped short of going out of play, allowing Hojlund enough space to whip a low strike into the far corner.
The contest was in danger of slipping away from the hosts, yet the Milanese faithful soon had something to get behind as their side pulled one back just as quickly as they’d conceded.
Having exploited some inattentive Inter defending, Napoli were culpable of much the same when Dimarco kept in Piotr Zielinski’s searching ball, teeing up Lautaro Martínez, who slid in to halve the deficit.
A period of intense Inter pressure followed, with Thuram’s stooping header kissing the outside of the post as Napoli resisted wave after wave of attack. And there was a sense of inevitability when Thuram rose to meet Carlos Augusto's deep cross, burying his header with eight minutes to play.
Inter were side pressing hardest for a winner, but they should have fallen behind at the death when Anguissa failed to turn home from point-blank range. And if that wasn’t enough heartbreak for Napoli, they fell behind moments later courtesy of an instinctive close-range finish from Martinez, who darted towards the back post to tuck in after a goalmouth scramble.
As a result, Inter continue an almost 10-month unbeaten run as hosts in Serie A (W10, D3), taking them back to the top of the league table at this early stage. Napoli’s first defeat in seven Serie A trips (W4, D3) will be a hard one to stomach, as they suffer back-to-back losses.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Lautaro Martinez (Inter)
