Cagliari had a tough first half, trailing 1-0 against Inter at the Unipol Domus. Lautaro Martínez scored as usual, and Belotti was forced off injured just before halftime.
Cagliari— set up in a 3-4-2-1 with Sebastiano Esposito and Folorunsho behind Belotti —started aggressively, but Inter scored with their first chance: in the ninth minute, Bastoni crossed from the left to the far post, and Lautaro Martínez leaped well above Obert and headed the ball past Caprile . It was the Argentine's twelfth goal in as many games against the Rossoblu, by far the team he'd been hit the hardest by in his career. In the 14th minute, former striker Barella entered the box and exchanged passes with Lautaro Martínez. Thuram tried to backheel the ball back to him, but Mina decisively beat him to it.
Inter were back in the game in the 26th minute, with a pass to Carlos Augusto on the left, whose cross Thuram attempted to backheel: it was weak, but Caprile easily blocked it. The Nerazzurri controlled the game, with Cagliari often struggling to get out of their own half . In the 38th minute, Thuram looked for space for his right foot, but his shot went high. The Rossoblu tried to make their presence felt in the 40th minute, with a nice through ball from Adopo to Sebastiano Esposito, who was blocked by Akanji's defensive tackle.
On a long ball in the 42nd minute, Belotti was beaten by Josep Martínez (who was offside). The striker fell badly and lay on the ground in pain, forcing him to be replaced by Prati . The center-forward's initial diagnosis: a sprained left knee , which is still being evaluated. The match goes to halftime after three minutes of injury time.
