Inter goes top of Serie A after first-half blitz

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Petar Sucic, Hakan Calhanoglu and Marcus Thuram were all on target for the reigning Scudetto holder, which dominated throughout at San Siro.

Federico Dimarco's tame volley was kept out early on before El Bilal Toure called Josep Martinez into action at the other end with a low drive.

But Parma gifted Inter its opener as Edoardo Corvi sold Mandela Keita short from a goal-kick, and Sucic pounced on the loose ball to fire past the goalkeeper just 13 minutes in.

Straight from the restart, Inter upped the pressure once more, and Diego Carlos stood on Francesco Pio Esposito's foot in his attempt to intercept Dimarco's cross, giving away a penalty.

Calhanoglu stepped up from 12 yards in the 18th minute and got an element of luck as his low spot-kick squirmed under Corvi's body as the goalkeeper failed to get down to his right in time.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan carved open Parma's defence after playing a one-two with Esposito, sliding it through for Thuram, who had acres of space from the right of the box to guide his low strike into the far-bottom corner after 31 minutes.

Cirvo kept Parma in the game at the start of the second half, getting his foot behind Esposito's first-time effort before Stankovic fizzed a low shot narrowly wide.

Lautaro Martinez came off the bench and caused some problems without hitting the target, but it did not matter as Inter did all the damage in the first half.