Inter Stats | Dzeko and Calhanoglu score and assist on perfect debuts

MILAN – Simone Inzaghi's first match as Inter coach drew a lot of applause. At a San Siro roaring with over 27,000 fans in attendance, the Nerazzurri beat Genoa 4-0 with two goals in each half. The Nerazzurri turned in a very convincing performance, ending the match with 60% of possession and 16 shots, eight of which were on target. Genoa had 10 shots, only four of which were on target on Samir Handanovic's goal, though without causing any major danger.

DREAM DEBUTS: DZEKO AND CALHANOGLU SCORE AND ASSIST There were four Inter debuts in the match against Genoa. Edin Dzeko, Hakan Calhanoglu and, in the second half, Denzel Dumfries and Martin Satriano made their first appearances for the Nerazzurri. They were all at their best, but Hakan Calhanoglu and Edin Dzeko left an indelible mark on proceedings. In the first 14 minutes the former first provided Milan Skriniar with an assist to open the scoring, swinging in a perfect corner, then scored his first goal for the club. Dzeko also registered a goal and an assist in his 200th Serie A game. The Bosnian striker set up Calhanoglu in the first half to make it 2-0, then found the net with a header to make it four for the home side.   Calhanoglu and Dzeko are the first Inter players to score and provide assists on their Serie A debuts in an Inter shirt since 2006, when Zlatan Ibrahimovic achieved the same feat against Fiorentina. For Calhanoglu, the right-footed strike was his eighth Serie A goal from outside the box and his first ever fired in an Inter shirt.

WINNING STREAK CONTINUES AGAINST GENOA The 4-0 win at San Siro extends Inter's winning streak against Genoa. The team now has seven consecutive victories home and away against the Rossoblù, with a total aggregate score of 25-0. For the Nerazzurri, it was another opening day with four goals scored, as was the case in 2019 (4-0 against Lecce) and 2020 (4-3 against Fiorentina). With the latest win, Inter become the first team to score at least four goals for three consecutive Serie A openers since Inter achieved the same feat in 1959 and 1961. 

HANDANOVIC’S 18, VECINO’S 200 AND... SKRINIAR! After playing against Genoa, Handanovic has appeared in 18 Serie A seasons, drawing level with the feat achieved by Christian Abbiati. Only Gianluigi Buffon has appeared in more (24).  Like Dzeko, Matias Vecino has also made 200 Serie A appearances. Skriniar, who scored Inter’s first goal of the new campaign, is the first defender to do so for Inter since Lúcio in 2011 against Udinese. All of the Slovakian defender's last five Serie A goals have come from corner kicks (four of them headers). Finally, Arturo Vidal, who made it 3-0, got his third goal in a Nerazzurri shirt (second in the league) and, interestingly, only his second goal as a substitute in Serie A (out of 37 in total). The previous one was in September 2011.