Serie A | Venezia 0-1 Inter: Darmian grabs victory on the Laguna | OneFootball

Matteo Darmian’s early tap-in proved just about enough for Inter to conquer Venezia, as the woodwork came to their rescue on Gianluca Busio.

The Nerazzurri were shaken by Monday’s 3-2 Supercoppa Italiana Final defeat to Milan, a game they had been leading 2-0 in Riyadh. It came at a cost too, as Hakan Calhanoglu, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Yann Bisseck, Francesco Acerbi and Joaquin Correa were injured, with Marcus Thuram and Benjamin Pavard not fully fit either. The Lagunari had only one defeat in the last four rounds, 1-0 to Napoli, and held Juventus to a 2-2 draw. Filip Stankovic faced his parent club, but Alfred Duncan, Domen Crnigoj and Michael Svoboda were injured, while Giorgio Altare pulled out in the warm-up, replaced by Richie Sagrado.

See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.

Mehdi Taremi ballooned over after a Lautaro Martinez foul on Sagrado, but moments later Inter had broken the deadlock.

Lautaro Martinez had a sensational first touch to control the long Kristjan Asllani ball over the top, volleying with his right boot to force a Stankovic save, only for Matteo Darmian to turn in the rebound.

Taremi volleyed a Denzel Dumfries cross over the bar, but Venezia’s injury crisis intensified when Sagrado – who only came in at the last minute for Altare – also limped off with a muscular problem.

Nonetheless, Alessandro Bastoni had to throw himself in the path of a Joel Pohjanpalo angled drive, while Stankovic parried the ferocious Lautaro Martinez angled drive.

VENICE, ITALY – JANUARY 12: Lautaro Martinez of FC Internazionale has a shot blocked by Jy Idzes of Venezia during the Serie A match between Venezia and FC Internazionale at Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo on January 12, 2025 in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Timothy Rogers/Getty Images)

After the restart, Venezia came out fighting with Gaetano Oristanio’s strike over the bar, then Issa Doumbia’s diving header on a corner was parried with great difficulty by Yann Sommer.

Stankovic also had to rush off his line to make a desperate save one-on-one with Davide Frattesi, but Venezia were unlucky not to equalise on 74 minutes when Gianluca Busio’s curler thumped the far post and Pohjanpalo was then offside on the rebound.

Inter also threatened on the counter, a Marcus Thuram back-heel flick sending Frattesi through for the shot charged down by Jay Idzes.

Venezia saw penalty appeals rejected, as Piotr Zielinski sliding in kicked the cross onto his own arm in a natural position. Pohjanpalo also blasted a half-volley straight at Sommer in stoppages on the Busio knock-down.

Darmian 16 (I)