Inter secured a 1-0 victory over Napoli in Serie A on Boxing Day, courtesy of a stoppage time winner from Lautaro Martinez.

The first-half was largely uneventful but Inter had two glorious chances to open the scoring just before the interval. Joao Mario guided a free header straight into the arms of Alex Meret before Mauro Icardi saw a scuffed effort cleared off the line by Kalidou Koulibaly a few minutes later.

A similar pattern emerged after the interval with neither side really able to take the game by the scruff of the neck. Samir Handanovic was the first keeper to make a save in the second-half, getting down well to beat away a decent effort from Jose Callejon.

A huge twist in the tale was to come in the 80th minute when Koulibaly was sent. The Senegalese defender brought down Matteo Politano on the wing and then, after being booked for that challenge, he was then given a second yellow card for sarcastically applauding the referee.

Napoli were pegged back after that sending off but they were inches away from stealing a victory late on. After initially spilling a cross, Handanovic produced a wonderful save from Lorenzo Insigne before Kwadwo Asamoah cleared the ball off the line from a Piotr Zielinski effort.

That proved to be a defining moment as Inter managed to find a winner of their own moments later. Substitute Lautaro Martinez was found in the box by Keita Balde and the Argentinean stroked the ball into the bottom corner.

To compound Napoli’s misery, Lorenzo Insigne was also sent off right at the death for an altercation with Balde.

​INTER

Key Talking Point

Following the suspension of Radja Nainggolan and the recent draw against Chievo Verona, it hasn’t exactly been the best of weeks for ​Inter.

They weren’t at their best once again, but they showed plenty of grit and determination to keep themselves in the game and they stood up to be counted for when it really mattered. Napoli hadn’t suffered a defeat in the league since September, which goes to prove just how big a win this was for Luciano Spalletti’s men.

They’ve now strengthened their hold on third place in the league and it would take a disastrous second half of the season for them to end up dropping out of the Champions League spots.

Player Ratings

Starting XI: Handanovic (6); D’Ambrosio (6), De Vrij (7), Skriniar (6), Asamoah (6); B.Valero (6), Brozovic (6), J.Mario (7); Politano (5), Perisic (5), Icardi (6).

Substitutes: Vecino (6), Keita Balde (7), Martinez (7).

Star Man – Joao Mario

Joao Mario has had to deal with plenty of stick so far this season, but he proved plenty of critics wrong on this occasion.

He had a very impressive game, both offensively and defensively and was usually at the heart of every good piece of play Inter managed to string together. His final ball was sometimes lacking, but there were few other players who were able to dictate the game in quite the same manner as the Portuguese.