Inter are unbeaten in their last eight Serie A games against Bologna (W4 D4).

Bologna’s last home win against Inter in the Italian top-flight was back in February 2002 (2-1 for the Rossoblu) – since that result the Nerazzurri have recorded nine wins and three draws.

Bologna are winless in their last eight Serie A games between this and last season – currently the joint-longest run without a win in the top-flight.

Bologna haven’t found the net in Serie A this term yet: the Rossoblu have never played their first three games in an Italian top-flight season without scoring a goal.

Including the end of the 2017-18 campaign, Inter’s last seven league goals have been scored by seven different players.

Since the start of the 2017-18 season, only Marcos Alonso (eight) has scored more league goals than Inter’s Stefan de Vrij (seven) amongst defenders in the top-5 European leagues.

BOLOGNA - Three goals were worth three points for Inter who came back with an important win after the struggles in the first two league matches. The Nerazzurri dominated in large spells before opening the scoring through Nainggolan (debut goal for the Ninja) before Candreva and Perisic found the net to make it 0-3 and send Spalletti’s team into the international break in the perfect fashion.

Inter started well. In the second minute, Skorupski missed the ball when coming out for a cross but Perisic wasn’t ready to pounce on the mistake. In the sixth minute, Gagliardini had a chance after being set up by Keita in the middle but he fired over the bar. Bologna looked to ask questions and they were dangerous in the ninth minute when Handanovic was called into action to make a superb point-blank save to deny Helander’s header. The Nerazzurri were on the attack again in the 22nd minute. Politano received the pass from Keita at the edge of the box before firing off target. It was then Keita who failed to beat Skorupski from a good position as he was off-balance when trying to hit the ball first-time. The tempo dropped off at the end of the half with Filippo Inzaghi’s side sitting back and defending.  Nainggolan went agonisingly close in stoppage time with a strike from range that just missed the target.

The match started in a similar fashion after the break with Inter still looking to find the net. In the 53rd minute, Gagliardini laid it off for Keita whose effort was turned around the post by Skorupski. In the 61st minute, Perisic played the ball in low for Politano in the middle who just failed to get on the end of it. Five minutes later, Bologna’s resistance fell apart. Politano set up Nainggolan who controlled perfectly before firing low across Skorupski into the corner. The home side had to come out of their shell after going behind and it created more space for Inter. In the 74th minute, Santander headed just wide from a Mattiello cross. Two minutes later, Keita missed a great chance after great work by Perisic. The second goal was coming however. Eight minutes from the end, a perfect through-ball played in Candreva (who replaced Keita) and he beat Skorupski. In the 85th minute, Inter added a third through Perisic who deserved it for his second-half display. He went past Mattiello before firing home from close range.

The final whistle came and Inter left with three well-earned points. It’s now time for an international break before a return to San Siro on the weekend of 15/16 September against Parma

#ForzaInter!

BOLOGNA 0-3 INTER

Goals: 66' Nainggolan (I), 82' Candreva (I), 85' Perisic (I)

BOLOGNA: 28 Skorupski; 4 De Maio (72' 7 Orsolini), 23 Danilo, 18 Helander; 14 Mattiello, 16 Poli (75' 30 Okwonkwo), 5 Pulgar, 31 Dzemaili, 35 Dijks; 9 Santander, 91 Falcinelli (79' 22 Destro)

Bench: 29 Santurro, 99 Pirana, 3 Gonzalez, 8 Nagy, 11 Krejci, 15 Mbaye, 19 Valencia, 32 Svanberg, 33 Calabresi

Coach: Filippo Inzaghi

INTER: 1 Handanovic; 33 D'Ambrosio (86' 2 Vrsaljko), 6 De Vrij, 37 Skriniar, 18 Asamoah; 77 Brozovic, 5 Gagliardini; 16 Politano, 14 Nainggolan (78' 8 Vecino), 44 Perisic; 11 Keita Balde (79' 87 Candreva)

Bench: 27 Padelli, 10 Lautaro, 13 Ranocchia, 15 Joao Mario, 20 B. Valero, 23 Miranda, 29 Dalbert

Coach: Luciano Spalletti

Bookings: Dzemaili (B), Gagliardini (I)

Stoppage Time: 1' + 4'

Referee: Di Bello

Assistants: Alassio, Lo Cicero

Fourth Official: Abbattista

starting lineups

substitutes