A stoppage-time winner from Lautaro Martínez flipped Inter’s clash with Napoli on Saturday and kept the hosts’ perfect Serie A start intact.
Napoli had led 2-0 with 34 minutes left at the San Siro. They walked off 3-2 losers, with the Inter captain scoring twice and Marcus Thuram once inside the final 35 minutes.
Matteo Politano opened the scoring in the 50th minute and Rasmus Højlund doubled the lead three minutes later. Everything after that ran in one direction. Lautaro halved the deficit in the 56th, Thuram equalised with a header in the 82nd, and Lautaro reappeared at the far post in the 91st to bury the ball after Napoli failed to clear a corner.
Cristian Chivu, who had reshaped his team at half time by sending on Thuram and Curtis Jones, called it “a great advertisement for Italian football”.
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“The team didn’t lose its head and maintained its identity. Ultimately, our courage was rewarded,” the Inter head coach said.
Chivu also took a swipe at the coverage his team had faced in the previous campaign.
“I’m fed up with what I was hearing last season. Negativity drives news and clicks,” he said.
Lautaro on what was missing
Lautaro framed the recovery as a marker of a different Inter from the one he had captained a season earlier.
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“The most important thing is finding my form, it isn’t easy to come back from a World Cup without a proper pre-season,” he told reporters.
“I’m delighted we managed to complete the comeback; that resilience was something we were missing last year.”
Thuram climbed onto the pitchside railing alongside his captain at full time.
“It belongs to Lautaro, he’s our captain and leader. He played so many matches at the World Cup and put himself at the team’s disposal,” the forward said.
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Chivu turns to Madrid
Both dressing rooms had one eye on the week ahead. Inter travel to the Santiago Bernabéu on Tuesday for the opening night of the 2026/27 Champions League league phase, away to Real Madrid.
Chivu declined to guarantee the fitness of full-back Federico Dimarco, whose free-kick had crashed against the crossbar during the fightback.
“I don’t know yet. We have two days, we’ll see,” he said.
McTominay out as Napoli turn to Arsenal
For Massimiliano Allegri, the sting is doubled. The former Milan and Juventus manager took charge of Napoli in the summer after Antonio Conte’s departure, and defeat on his first away trip of the campaign leaves his side six points behind Inter after three matchdays.
Napoli host Arsenal at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Wednesday for their own Champions League opener, with midfielder Scott McTominay unavailable for a minor heart procedure.
Kick-off in Madrid is at 9pm local time on Tuesday, 8 September. Naples follows 24 hours later, also at 9pm local time.
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