EMPOLI, Italy (Reuters) -Davide Frattesi scored twice and Lautaro Martinez added a third as Inter Milan eased to a 3-0 win at Empoli on Wednesday, closing the gap with Serie A leaders Napoli to four points after the home side had a man sent off.
Inter, now unbeaten in five league games, remain second in the standings with 21 points, behind Napoli on 25 after their 2-0 win at AC Milan on Tuesday. Empoli remain 11th on 11 points.
Empoli faced an uphill battle when Saba Goglichidze was shown the red card for a studs-up high challenge on Marcus Thuram after half an hour, and Inter made the extra man count in the second half.
Frattesi found the net five minutes after the break and doubled Inter’s lead in the 67th minute, before Martinez rounded off the win 11 minutes from time, stretching Empoli’s winless run to five games.
The game may have lacked the drama of Inter’s rollercoaster 4-4 draw with Juventus on Sunday, but this time Simone Inzaghi’s side came away with all three points, against an Empoli side who struggle to score but had conceded even less, until now.
The home fans have yet to celebrate an Empoli goal at the Stadio Carlo Castellani in the league this season after four games, but they had also conceded just once, and looked like shackling Inter, until they went a man down.
Before the sending off, Inter did find the net, but Matteo Darmian was guilty of a handball on his way to scoring, and the away side’s only other real chance before the break came from a deflected Federico Dimarco free kick which brought a superb save from the keeper.
Inter were unable to make the most of their numerical advantage in the first half, but it all changed once Frattesi got them off the mark.
A cross to the back post was kept in play on the byline by a header from Darmian which fell to Frattesi and his deflected looping shot went in off the far post.
His second came after a backheeled pass from Martinez in the area which Frattesi slotted home, and the killer third goal was down to an awful keeper’s error.
Vasquez played a sloppy pass out from the goal which Nicolo Barella gathered and he passed to the unmarked Martinez in the area who made no mistake and fired home to finish off an Empoli who had no response after a brave first half showing.
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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