Inter Milan have returned to winning ways after the Supercoppa disappointment with a 1-0 victory over Venezia in the Italian Serie A.
The Nerazurri were on the verge of winning the Supercoppa trophy against AC Milan before succumbing to a 3-2 loss.
This makes it a double win over Venezia, which they defeated in the first leg at the Guiseppe Meaza.
Inter got the maximum points through Matteo Darmian’s early tap-in, which proved just enough they needed, as the woodwork came to their rescue on Gianluca Busio.
The Nerazzurri came into the tie following Monday’s 3-2 Supercoppa Italiana and had to play without Hakan Calhanoglu, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Yann Bisseck, Francesco Acerbi, and Joaquin Correa due to injuries as Marcus Thuram and Benjamin Pavard are not fully fit either.
The Lagunari went into the game with just one defeat in the last four rounds, which came from a 1-0 loss to Napoli.
The first chance came the way of the Nerazurri as Mehdi Taremi ballooned the ball over after a Lautaro Martinez foul on Sagrado.
A few minutes later, Inter broke the deadlock through Damian. Lautaro Martinez, with a sensational first touch, controlled 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 got a chance to double their lead but bundled a Denzel Dumfries cross over the bar.
Venezia suffered another injury blow when Sagrado – who only came in at the last minute for Altare limped off with a muscular problem.
Alessandro Bastoni threw himself in the path of a Joel Pohjanpalo angled drive, while Stankovic parried the ferocious Lautaro Martinez angled drive.
Venezia looked for an equalizer in the second half 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 was called to action with a desperate save one-on-one with Davide Frattesi. At the same time, Venezia could not restore parity for the hosts in 74 minutes when Gianluca Busio’s curler thumped the far post, and Pohjanpalo was then offside on the rebound.
Inter had another chance on the counter when Marcus Thuram’s back-heel flick sent Frattesi through for the shot charged down by Jay Idzes.
After Venezia’s penalty appeals were rejected, Piotr Zielinski slid in and kicked the cross onto his arm in a natural position.
Pohjanpalo also blasted a half-volley straight at Sommer in stoppages on the Busio knock-down.
