INTER STATS | New faces among goals and assists

Last night Inter won their third game in a row and now sit on 69 points in Serie A, 32 games into the season. Their 3-1 win over Spezia saw Marcelo Brozovic, Lautaro Martinez, and Alexis Sanchez get on the scoresheet.

17 DIFFERENT SCORERS, 16 DIFFERENT ASSIST-PROVIDERS

Before netting against Spezia Marcelo Brozovic hadn’t scored a league goal in nearly a year. In 2021/22 he had only found the net once, against Sheriff Tiraspol in the Champions League. Friday night’s fixture changed that stat, and what a way to do so. The Croat emphatically slammed home a left-footed volley to open the scoring and also make him the 17th different Inter player to have scored in Serie A so far this campaign.

Only in the 2007/08 and 2019/20 seasons have Inter shared their goals more among the squad, with 18 different players finding the net in those campaigns. Brozovic’s goal came from an assist by Danilo D'Ambrosio, his first of the campaign. This means that the 33-year-old has become Inter’s 16th assist-provider of the season; no other team can boast a figure so high.

SUBS MAKING VALUABLE CONTRIBUTIONS

Lautaro and Alexis, both of whom came on in the 60th minute, played a vital role in Inter’s win with their goals. This means that over the course of the season substitutes have contributed 12 goals for the Nerazzurri cause, more than any other side in Serie A. Lautaro has now reached 15 goals for the season in the Italian top flight, and seven of these have come on a Friday. No other player has scored this many goals on this day of the week.

MATCH STATS

Inter had 23 shots on goal against a Spezia side who didn’t just camp in their own half in an attempt to fend off the Nerazzurri. Thiago Motta’s side had ten attempts on goal but lacked precision. The Nerazzurri recorded a possession percentage of 67.4% and played more than twice the number of passes as their hosts.

As for individuals, Nicolo Barella covered more ground than any other player (12.295 kilometres), with Marcelo Brozovic coming second in this regard. The Italian midfielder also played 26 passes in the opponent's half.

In his 34 minutes on the pitch Lautaro saw a lot of action; taking seven touches in the opposition’s box, having four shots on target, and providing both a goal and an assist.

Ivan Perisic was his usual domineering self on the left wing; as well as supplying an assist he created four goalscoring opportunities.