Lautaro Martinez ends goal drought as Inter Milan ease past Salernitana

Lautaro Martinez and Nicolo Barella scored to help Inter Milan ease to a comfortable 2-0 home win over Salernitana in Serie A on Sunday.

Inter, last season's runners-up, moved up one place to seventh in the standings on 18 points. They are one point behind AS Roma and two adrift of fifth-placed AC Milan who have a game in hand and play at Verona later on Sunday.

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Inter opened the scoring in the 14th minute through Lautaro, who lashed a shot from outside the box and the ball bounced in front of Salernitana keeper Luigi Sepe before finding the bottom corner.

The Argentine striker netted his fourth Serie A goal of the campaign after five matches without scoring.

Edin Dzeko could have doubled the hosts' lead just after the half hour mark but hesitated too long to take a shot, allowing the defenders to make a successful block.

Salernitana's Poland striker Krzysztof Piatek challenged Inter goalkeeper Andre Onana on the edge of the box in search of an equaliser, but the Cameroonian reacted quickly to claw the ball away for a corner just before halftime.

Inter, who last season won both matches against Salernitana 5-0, had an opportunity to make it 2-0 but Lautaro's close-range effort did not beat the alert goalkeeper.

Barella doubled the hosts' advantage at the San Siro in the 58th minute, controlling the ball superbly in the box and placing a shot into the bottom right corner.

Both Lautaro and Barella were also on target in Inter's 3-3 draw at Barcelona in the Champions League in midweek which put coach Simone Inzaghi's side close to sealing their spot in the last 16.

Inter travel to Fiorentina on Saturday while Salernitana, who remained 12th on 10 points, host Spezia.