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Lautaro Martinez made the most of a Christmas gift from the Atalanta defence to secure all three points in Bergamo and keep Inter top of the table.
The Nerazzurri were top of the table, but also shaken by their unexpected Supercoppa Italiana semi-final loss to Bologna on penalties, which meant ending 2025 without any silverware. Hakan Calhanoglu returned, but Ange-Yoan Bonny, Francesco Acerbi, Denzel Dumfries, Matteo Darmian, Tomas Palacios and Raffaele Di Gennaro missed out. La Dea had won seven of their last eight competitive games under Raffaele Palladino, but Ademola Lookman and Odilon Kossounou were at AFCON, with Raoul Bellanova and Mitchel Bakker injured.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
Piotr Zielinski was a surprise starter and stumbled under pressure from Marten de Roon on the Luis Henrique assist, then on the resulting corner Manuel Akanji’s volley was deflected inches wide by Sead Kolasinac.
Marcus Thuram stung Marco Carnesecchi’s gloves, then Lautaro Martinez didn’t get enough power or precision on the finish to beat the goalkeeper when sent clear through the middle.
Nicolò Barella had several attempts, including a fresh-air shot on the Alessandro Bastoni pull-back, while Davide Zappacosta blasted over on the counter-attack after skinning Akanji.
Inter did have the ball in the net on 35 minutes with Thuram’s angled drive, but Lautaro Martinez was offside before providing the assist, so it was disallowed.
Atalanta threatened too, Gianluca Scamacca and Mario Pasalic both only grazing their heads to the Nicola Zalewski cross from six yards.
Zappacosta went off injured at half-time, but Atalanta had another big chance when Ederson nodded the De Ketelaere assist over from five yards under pressure from Yann Bisseck.
La Dea had the ball in the net too on 55 minutes, but Zalewski was already offside before forcing the desperate Yann Sommer save, so the De Ketelaere angled drive didn’t count.
Moments later, Inter had a huge double chance at the other end, as first Carnesecchi rushed out to deny Luis Henrique one-on-one, then Kolasinac threw himself in the way of Barella’s follow-up with the goal gaping.
Scamacca had the ball in the net too, though he was very obviously offside before dribbling around Sommer.
It was Inter who finally scored a goal that counted, as Berat Djimsiti’s horribly misplaced pass in defence was intercepted by Francesco Pio Esposito, who laid it off for Lautaro Martinez to finish it off. The Argentine found the net for the fourth consecutive Serie A match.
A late Christmas gift for Lautaro Martinez and Inter Milan, and they take the lead in Bergamo! 🎁
Djimsiti won’t want to see that back 🫣
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/Z4sdv6Y3Xl
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) December 28, 2025
Djimsiti risked another howler and this time Pio Esposito fired over, but Atalanta wasted a golden opportunity to equalise late on when De Ketelaere rolled across from the right and Lazar Samardzic incredibly prodded wide undisturbed from 10 yards.
It was the ninth consecutive defeat for Atalanta against Inter in all competition.
Lautaro Martinez 65 (I)
FIFA World Cup
