Inter Erases 0-2 Deficit, Beats Udinese 5-3 at the Meazza

It started like a nightmare and ended in a rout. Inter fell 0-2 behind before the 15th minute against Udinese at the Giuseppe Meazza, but wound up winning 5-3 after a comeback capped by an offensive showcase in the second half. Five different scorers, a visiting side that never stopped fighting, and a Serie A match that blew past any preseason script.

A wild start

Udinese came out swinging and it worked right away. In the 8th minute, James Abankwah headed home into the top corner off a cross from Unai Gomez on a corner kick, and just seven minutes later, Jurgen Ekkelenkamp finished from close range on the left side to make it 0-2, set up by Keinan Davis. The home side looked rattled, but responded quickly: in the 25th minute, Carlos Augusto fired a right-footed strike from outside the box to pull one back, and in the 34th, Nicolo Barella, assisted by Marcus Thuram, made it 2-2 before halftime. The first half ended level, with both sides having created real danger.

A second-half statement

In the second half, Inter took total control. Marcus Thuram gave his side the lead for the first time in the match in the 56th minute with a low finish set up by Andy Diouf. Ten minutes later, Francesco Pio Esposito doubled the advantage with a similar finish, this time from a Piotr Zielinski assist, making it 4-2. The fifth goal came in the 78th minute, when Ange-Yoan Bonny, who had just come on, finished from the center of the box. Udinese still found room for pride: deep into stoppage time, in the 90th minute, Idrissa Gueye, assisted by Vakoun Bayo, set the final score at 5-3.

Total control in the numbers

The final score reflects a dramatic comeback, but the stats show Inter was comfortably the better side across the 90 minutes, the rocky start aside.

With 27 shots to Udinese's 6, and nearly double the possession share, Inter's dominance is clear. In estimated post-match xG, Inter generated 4.051 against Udinese's 1.337, a gap that lines up with how the scoreline ultimately played out, even if the opening stretch of the match was much closer than that.

What the preview said

Before kickoff, our projection gave Inter a 72% chance of winning, with a 19% chance of a draw and just 9% for Udinese. Expected goals were set at 2.36 for the home side and 0.76 for the visitors, a combined total of 3.12. The final result, with eight goals on the board, blew well past that forecast, though the outcome, a comfortable Inter win, ended up matching what the model had predicted, even if the path to get there was far bumpier than expected.

What the result means

With this result, Inter climbs to 12 points from four matches, with a record of four wins, sitting second in the table, just one point behind leaders Roma, who have the same points total but a better goal difference. Udinese, meanwhile, sit on 4 points from four matches, the product of one win, one draw and two losses, and rank further down the standings. The points gap between the two sides in the table stands at 8, a reflection of the margin that ultimately separated them despite how even the scoreline looked early on.