INTER STATS | Perisic and penalties scored with either foot

Inter have suffered their first defeat of this Serie A season, losing 3-1 to Lazio on Saturday at the Stadio Olimpico in a match that began with Ivan Perisic's penalty and was turned around in the second half by the hosts, thanks to goals from Ciro Immobile, Felipe Anderson and Sergej Milinković-Savić. It was Inter's second defeat in their last 30 Serie A games, the last being a loss to Juve in the previous campaign when the Scudetto had already been clinched. Inter lost having led, which happens rarely, indeed very rarely. The Nerazzurri had not lost a Serie A match after going a goal up since late in the 2019/20 season against Bologna.

PERISIC AND PENALTIES STRUCK WITH BOTH FEET Walter Zenga had this to say when talking about Andy Brehme: “During the week I would stand between the posts and challenge him. He’d fire 10 penalties at me, five with his right and five with his left. He was a phenomenon.” The German full-back, famous for his devastating left foot, scored the winning goal in the 1990 World Cup final from a penalty against Argentina, in the final minutes of the match, and took it with his right foot. He is perhaps one of the best examples of a purely two-footed player.  In the Nerazzurri jersey, in recent years, besides Ronaldo, Wesley Sneijder has probably been the player who has best demonstrated his ability with both feet. His heir when looking at the current Inter squad is certainly Ivan Perisic. While naturally a right-footed player, he found the back of the net in the 2018 World Cup final with a left-foot strike. It’s not uncommon to see him strike free-kicks, or even penalties, with his left foot.  Against Lazio, he scored from the penalty spot with his right foot, beating Pepe Reina. It was the third spot kick Perisic has taken in an Inter shirt and the third he has scored. All three have come in away Serie A matches. He took two of them in the 2018/2019 season, against Frosinone and Fiorentina, both of which he dispatched by sending the goalkeeper the wrong way as he struck... left-footed. In Saturday’s match the Croat struck with his right foot and became the first player in Serie A to have scored at least one right-footed and at least one left-footed penalty since Opta started collecting the data in the 2004/05 season. The goal also brings Perisic's tally to 47 goals in a Nerazzurri shirt.

INTER AND THEIR EARLY GOALS Inter took the lead against Lazio in the 12th minute, which is typical of the Nerazzurri this campaign. That is the fifth goal the team has scored in the first quarter of an hour. Only Verona have more early goals (6).