Inter continue Scudetto march after Champions League humbling

2026-02-28 - 22:44

Inter Milan’s Hakan Calhanoglu celebrates with his teammate Piotr Zielinski after scoring a penalty during the match against Genoa. (EPA Images pic) MILAN: Inter Milan bounced back from Champions League elimination with Saturday’s 2-0 win over Genoa, which continued their march towards the Serie A title. Federico Dimarco’s brilliant volley just after the half-hour mark and Hakan Calhanoglu’s second-half penalty were enough for Inter to extend their already huge lead over AC Milan at the top of the table to 13 points. Milan will be favourites to win at Cremonese in Sunday’s early fixture, with the local rivals set to face off next weekend in a match which will in all likelihood have little impact on the destination of the Scudetto. Inter, whose fans unloaded a collection of anti-Milan chants in anticipation of the derby, have dropped just two points in 15 league matches and have been a cut above the rest in Italy’s top flight this season. Their domestic dominance comes in stark contrast to the humiliating manner in which they were dumped out of the Champions League by Bodo/Glimt on Tuesday night. A 5-2 aggregate defeat to the Norwegian minnows cast doubts over not just the quality of Cristian Chivu’s team but of Italian football as a whole. There was plenty of quality in Dimarco’s opener however, the Italy full-back beautifully placed a first-time finish from a tight angle after exchanging passes with Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Little else happened in a humdrum encounter until Alex Amorim handled a cross from Luis Henrique, whose shot had been tipped onto