An early strike from Lautaro Martínez was all Inter Milan needed to secure a narrow 1–0 away victory over Udinese, avenging the shock defeat they suffered against the Friulani earlier in the season.
The Nerazzurri arrived in Udine buoyed by their midweek win over Lecce, which confirmed their status as Winter Champions, but Simone Inzaghi’s side was still stretched by injuries.
Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Denzel Dumfries, Josep Martínez, Tomás Palacios and Raffaele Di Gennaro were all unavailable.
Udinese, who stunned Inter 2–1 at San Siro back in August, were also depleted, missing Nicolò Zaniolo, Jordan Zemura and Adam Buksa, prompting Arthur Atta to push further forward.
Inter threatened early when Federico Dimarco unleashed a spectacular volley that flashed across goal and brushed the far post.
After wasting a couple of half-chances, the visitors finally made the breakthrough.
Francesco Pio Esposito set the move in motion, slipping Piotr Zieliński through before the midfielder squared for Martínez.
The Inter captain shifted the ball onto his right foot and expertly drilled a low effort into the far corner from 12 yards, using the outside of his boot.
Inter continued to press, with Manuel Akanji heading a Dimarco corner wide and Udinese goalkeeper Maduka Okoye producing a fine fingertip save to push away another low Dimarco effort around the post.
Udinese responded through Keinan Davis, who dispossessed Nicolò Barella and teed up Jakub Piotrowski, forcing Yann Sommer into a sharp save from distance. However, Piotrowski was forced off with a knee injury just before half-time.
After the restart, Henrikh Mkhitaryan tested Okoye at the near post following a loose pass from Thomas Kristensen, while Dimarco thought he had doubled Inter’s lead on the hour mark, only for the goal to be ruled out after Esposito strayed offside in the build-up.
Carlos Augusto then produced a superb sliding challenge to halt Davis on a dangerous counterattack, though the defender was booked, much to the frustration of the Udinese players who felt a red card should have been shown.
With the score still finely poised, the hosts pushed forward late on, but Inter stood firm. Francesco Acerbi bravely blocked an Idrissa Gueye volley from a corner, while Akanji made a crucial intervention to prevent a cross from reaching Davis inside the six-yard box.
Inter saw out the closing stages to claim all three points, completing their revenge mission and extending their strong grip at the top of Serie A.
