Serie A | Inter 1-0 Lecce – Pio Esposito & Zielinski impress in nervy Nerazzurri win

Inter did what they needed to do but were generally unremarkable in their 1-0 victory over Lecce at San Siro.

Football Italia’s Player of the Match was Inter midfielder Piotr Zielinski.

Inter: Sommer 6; Akanji 6, Acerbi 6.5, Bastoni 7.5; Diouf 6 (Luis Henrique 6), Barella 7 (Frattesi 6), Zielinski 7.5, Mkhitaryan 6.5 (Lautaro 6), Augusto 7; Thuram 6.5, Bonny 5.5 (Pio Esposito 7.5)

Best Inter player: Piotr Zielinski – Playing as regista in the stead of Hakan Calhanoglu’s absence, the Pole continued his impressive revival under Cristian Chivu with another orchestral performance in the heart of midfield.

Lowest Inter rating: Ange-Yoan Bonny – Played just under an hour but failed to really stamp his mark on the game. Chivu’s decision to replace him with Pio Esposito was a good call and the young Frenchman will be looking to improve in future appearances.

Coach: Cristian Chivu 6.5 – His side did enough to come away with the three points and the coach’s substitutions bore fruit when Pio Esposito scored the decisive goal.

Lecce: Falcone 7.5; Veiga 7, Siebert 6, Gabriel 6, Gallo 7; Coulibaly 6.5, Maleh 6.5; Pierotti 5.5 (N’Dri 6), Gandelman 5.5 (Kaba 6), Sottil 6 (Morente 6); Stulic 6

Best Lecce player: Wladimiro Falcone – The Lecce goalkeeper made six saves tonight and nearly put in a POTM performance to secure his side a point before Pio Esposito’s late winner. Falcone made some outstanding saves and was unfortunate not to have a clean sheet.

Lowest Lecce rating: Omri Gandelman – A debut to forget for the Israeli, who was beaten time and time again by Inter’s defensive set-up, giving him no room at all to breathe. Was on the end of a lot of long balls and struggled to win many, before being taken off with 20 minutes to go.

Coach: Eusebio Di Francesco 6.5 – Nearly masterminded an impressive result at San Siro, and set his side up in the best possible way to do it, but was overwhelmed by Inter’s pure quality.