Thuram hits brace as five-star Inter Milan thrash Verona to top Serie A

Long forgotten by the whistle, there was a brief moment when the home side were on top in this match, with Casper Tengstedt rattling the crossbar shortly after Flavius ​​Daniliuc's header had tested Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer.

After those impressive first five minutes, Hellas slumped under a combination of Inter's sharp attacking play and their own disastrous defensive high line.

Joaquin Correa made his first start in more than a year and had already cleared the bar by the time he gave his side the lead, finishing past Lorenzo Montipo after a clever link-up with Marcus Thuram.

After providing the assist for the opener, Thuram scored two almost identical goals in three minutes, as he twice broke Verona's sloppy offside trap and rounded the keeper before slotting the ball into an empty net.

The result was done and dusted within half an hour, but Simone Inzaghi's men were left with buckets of salt to rub into the Gialloblu's gaping wounds.

Stefan de Vrij was alone on the field because Francesco Acerbi had to leave the field with an injury early in the first half and the Dutchman helped himself to a goal by firing his shot from the edge of the penalty area into the corner.

With five minutes to go in the first half, the visitors were so relaxed that they were almost literally horizontal when Yann Aurel Bisseck poked home a fifth from eight yards, despite falling over and lying on the ground as he took his shot .

It was only the second time in their history that the Nerazzurri had scored five first-half goals in an away game, and they had done so ruthlessly by directing all their shots on target.

With their fate sealed, Paolo Zanetti made a quadruple substitution at half-time in the hope of at least seeing an improvement, and although the goals dried up they were still outclassed against their superior opponents.

Despite conceding five goals, Montipo made his first save of the match early in the second half, superbly denying substitute Piotr Zielinski on half-time as the Polish midfielder smashed home a volley with his first touch.

With little to play, the second half was more of a training session than a competitive match, with only six shots on target in the entire 45 minutes.

For Inter it will be a welcome reprieve as they look ahead to tough games against Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League, along with league fixtures against Fiorentina and Lazio, while Hellas will look to bounce back against Cagliari next week.

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