MILAN: Inter Milan wasted no time flexing their attacking muscle as they dismantled Torino 5-0 at home to open their Serie A campaign on Monday.
Marcus Thuram scored twice as Inter at times turned the Torino box into a playground, creating far more chances than the scoreline suggested.
Inter asserted their superiority from the first whistle at San Siro, with Thuram almost striking inside the opening minute when his header flashed just over the bar.
The hosts’ dominance was rewarded in the 18th minute when Alessandro Bastoni rose highest at a corner and guided a looping header over the Torino defense and inside the far post.
Nine minutes before the interval, Petar Sucic slipped Thuram through inside the Torino box, and the Frenchman finished with ease from an acute angle to double Inter’s lead.
The goal appeared to free Inter up creatively in attack, with both the forward and midfield carving out chance after chance against a disorganized Torino defense who looked relieved at the halftime whistle.
Inter carried their superiority into the second half, as Lautaro Martinez pounced on a misplaced Torino backpass in the box and calmly slotted home Inter’s third seven minutes in.
Thuram continued the onslaught in the 62nd minute when he rose high to head in a cross from Bastoni.
In the 72nd minute Torino were punished again for sloppy defending when Denzel Dumfries intercepted a misplaced pass out from the back. A quick exchange of passes left Ange-Yoan Bonny unmarked in the box, and he calmly slotted home to complete the rout.
It was Inter’s first victory by at least five goals in a season opener since 1961, and a far cry from their Champions League final defeat in May, when Paris St. Germain won by the same score.
“This victory means we started well without conceding a goal, and that was important. We’re not 100 percent yet, but we’re working toward that. It was a good match,” Thuram told Sky Sport.
“What happened last season is in the past, this is a new campaign and we have learned from that experience.”
Bastoni agreed with his teammate.
“We were all really eager to come back and prove to ourselves that despite a difficult end to the season, we were still hungry and wanted to show what we could do,” he said.
