Inter beat Cesena to maintain Leonardo’s perfect start
Nerazzurri's 3-2 victory moves the defending champions ahead of Roma into fourth place in Serie A
Inter Milan sealed their fourth successive league victory to move within six points of Serie A leaders AC Milan with a game in hand after beating Cesena at the San Siro on Wednesday night.
Samuel Eto’o, Diego Milito and Cristian Chivu all netted first-half goals to help Leonardo’s men close the gap on their city rivals and move into fourth place in the league table.
The result maintains the Nerazzurri’s 100 per cent record under their new manager, with Leonardo’s side netting 15 goals in five outings since the Brazilian took over from Rafael BenÃÂtez.
The home side raced into an early two-goal lead within 15 minutes courtesy of Eto’o's 12th goal of the season and a Milito strike. But minutes later Inter faltered, allowing Cesena’s Erjon Bogdani and Emanuele Giaccherini to level the match at 2-2.
However, Romania international Chivu restored Inter’s lead deep into first-half added time after he rose highest to nod Maicon’s cross past Cesena goalkeeper Francesco Antonioli and grab the eventual winner.
Inter’s Brazilian right-back Maicon insisted after the match that last season’s treble winners are determined to recapture their outstanding form from the successful campaign under José Mourinho.
“A team like Inter must always think of great things, but will not be easy to take six points to Milan,” said Maicon. “We must continue on this road.”
Meanwhile, new boss Leonardo will not get carried away after a perfect start to his reign ahead of a trip to Udinese this weekend. He said: “We must keep focusing on each game as it comes, especially as the next will be another very tough match, against Udinese on Sunday.”
Serie A table snapshot
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