AFP
Inter Milan kicked off their Italian league title defence by cruising past Genoa 4-0 on Saturday in an encouraging display from the champions following a turbulent close season.
Simone Inzaghi's side were two goals ahead after 13 minutes thanks to Milan Skriniar and Hakan Calhanoglu, before second-half strikes from Arturo Vidal and Edin Dzeko completed the rout in front of just over 27,000 spectators at the San Siro as crowds return to stadiums in Italy.
"We worked hard towards today, we got off to a great start and we won," said the impressive Calhanoglu, who also provided the cross for Skriniar's goal.
"It's easy to play with teammates who have such quality, you know how they're going to move and today we played really well all together. We want to continue that way."
Skriniar opened the scoring five minutes into the new season with a thumping header from a corner by Calhanoglu, who doubled Inter's lead eight minutes later by drilling home a long-range strike after exchanging passes with fellow new signing Dzeko.
Vidal made sure of the points in the 74th minute when he swept home the third following smart work from Nicolo Barella to set up the Chilean after Dzeko's curling shot was well saved by Genoa stopper Salvatore Sirigu.
A gloriously warm evening in Milan was made even better for the home fans when Lukaku's replacement Dzeko rounded off the scoring by meeting Vidal's deep cross with a thumping header to score his first goal in Inter colours.
