Last Updated on April 17, 2026 5:32 pm by ZUWP Automation
Inter 3-0 Cagliari: Three goals in 38 second-half minutes confirm Cristian Eugen Chivu’s side as the dominant force at the Meazza in Matchweek 33
For forty-five minutes, Inter and Cagliari produced precisely nothing. Then, within the space of four second-half minutes, the match was effectively over. A controlled, patient Inter side turned a goalless first half into a comprehensive 3-0 victory, with Marcus Thuram, Nicolò Barella and Piotr Zieliński doing the damage in a second period that Fabio Pisacane’s visitors simply had no answer to.
A Quiet First Half, a Yellow Card Warning
The opening forty-five minutes offered little in the way of clear opportunity. Cagliari, set up in a 3-5-2 mirror of Inter’s formation, were disciplined and compact, content to absorb pressure and look for openings on the break. Inter circulated the ball with purpose but without penetration, their 56 per cent possession failing to manufacture anything of genuine threat before the interval.
What the first half did produce was a pair of yellow cards, both awarded inside a two-minute spell. The bookings, for fouls, added a physical edge to proceedings without fundamentally altering the shape of either side. At the break, the scoreline read 0-0, and on the evidence of forty-five minutes, a tight, low-scoring contest felt the most likely outcome.
It was not.
Seven Minutes That Settled It
The second half was barely seven minutes old when Inter had two goals. Marcus Thuram broke the deadlock on 52 minutes, converting from a Federico Dimarco assist with a right-foot finish to make it 1-0. It was a goal that carried an xG of just 0.04, which tells you something about the quality of the execution rather than the quality of the chance itself.
Cagliari had no time to regroup. Four minutes later, Nicolò Barella made it 2-0 with a right-foot shot, this time unassisted, and the match was done as a contest. The visiting side, who had managed just one shot on target across the entire ninety minutes, found themselves two goals down before the hour mark with no credible route back into the fixture.
Barella, wearing the captain’s armband and operating with the authority that comes with it, had been Inter’s most influential presence throughout. He completed 64 of 74 passes, recovered the ball nine times, and carried an xG of 0.13 from two shots. His goal, arriving at a moment when Cagliari were still processing the first, was the kind of clinical follow-up that turns a tight match into a procession.
Zieliński Adds the Gloss, a Sub Makes His Mark
Inter’s substitutions at the 76th minute, which saw Thuram and Federico Dimarco among those withdrawn, brought on Piotr Zieliński, and the Polish midfielder needed just fourteen minutes to add his name to the scoresheet. Assisted by Denzel Dumfries, Zieliński’s right-foot finish on 90 minutes completed the 3-0 scoreline. A substitute scoring within twenty minutes of coming on is a narrative in itself; here it simply confirmed what had been apparent since the 56th minute.
The player with the highest individual rating on the Cagliari side was the midfielder wearing number 94, who created three chances, completed 44 of 55 passes and won seven of twelve duels, earning a 7.3 rating. It was an individual performance that deserved a better context. His side were beaten before he could make it count.
The Numbers Behind the Dominance
Inter’s 56 per cent possession was not a story of overwhelming territorial control; it was a story of quality in the final third. They attempted 18 shots to Cagliari’s 10, with 12 of those coming from inside the box compared to Cagliari’s 4. That is the difference between a side creating genuine danger and one hoping something would fall their way from distance.
The player wearing Inter’s number 94 led the side with five shots, accumulating an xG of 0.49, but without converting. The Inter forward who did score, the number 9, carried an xG of 0.74 from his two attempts, suggesting the goal he scored was the one his performance deserved. Inter’s number 32 was perhaps the most unfortunate figure: he created three chances, completed 38 of 42 passes, put in four accurate crosses from seven attempts, and still ended on the losing side of a big chance missed. His xG of 0.62 from two shots, against an actual return of zero goals, was the one statistical footnote that did not go Inter’s way.
Cagliari’s goalkeeper made just one save across the ninety minutes, which is not a reflection of poor goalkeeping but of how few shots Inter put on target when they had the match won. His rating of 5.96 was the lowest on the pitch; the scoreline made it inevitable.
Form and Consequence
Inter arrived at this fixture having won three of their previous five matches, their only defeat in that run a 1-2 loss at Como. Cagliari came in with a modest return of one win, two draws and two losses across their last five, including back-to-back defeats to Pisa and Como before a narrow win over Sassuolo. The gap in momentum was reflected in the final score.
Cagliari’s recent record of two successive 0-0 draws before this fixture, against Cremonese and now going into the interval here, suggested a side capable of keeping things tight. Inter simply found a way through that others had not.
The 3-0 win at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in Matchweek 33 of the 2025/26 Serie A season keeps Inter firmly in the conversation at the top of the table, though standings points are not confirmed in the available data. What is clear is that Chivu’s side produced their most convincing performance in recent weeks when it mattered most, and Cagliari, who leave Milan with nothing to show for nine corners and a disciplined first-half defensive effort, will need to regroup quickly. For Inter, the second half here was a reminder of what this side can do when the goals start flowing. Three in thirty-eight minutes is not something opponents forget easily.