Sanchez on target as Inter thumps Salernitana
Alexis Sanchez was on the scoresheet as Serie A leader Inter Milan brushed aside Salernitana 5-0 at Stadio Arechi on Saturday (AEDT).
Linked with a possible January move to Barcelona in recent days, the Chile forward was handed just his third league start of the season and repaid coach Simone Inzaghi with his first top-flight goal since May.
Ivan Perisic and Denzel Dumfries had already put the Nerazzurri comfortably in control in the first half, the latter scoring his side's 100th league goal of 2021.
Substitutes Lautaro Martinez and Roberto Gagliardini added fourth and fifth goals for Inter, which now leads Serie A by four points with one game left for the year.
Inter needed only 10 minutes to take the lead, Perisic given a free header six yards out from Hakan Calhanoglu's corner.
Edin Dzeko glanced a Dumfries cross wide before Salernitana came within inches of an equaliser against the run of play, Joel Obi denied a goal against his old club by Samir Handanovic after being played through by Franck Ribery.
Just three minutes later, Dzeko sent Dumfries racing through and the wing-back's strike crashed off the underside of the bar and, although it bounced away from goal, it had clearly crossed the line.
Dzeko should have nodded in a third before the break but managed to steer the ball wide after goalkeeper Vincenzo Fiorillo had flapped at thin air.
Yet Inter only needed six minutes of the second half to make it 3-0 after all. After a promising Salernitana attack broke down, Sanchez sparked a counter-attack before racing up the pitch and firing low past Fiorillo from Calhanoglu's pass.
Martinez, who came on for Sanchez, swept home from the middle of the box after the ball fell kindly to him, and Gagliardini drilled in a fifth with three minutes of normal time left.
