Inter Milan returned to the top of Serie A with a 4-0 home win over Udinese on Saturday, with Turkey playmaker Hakan Calhanoglu setting up a goal and scoring another.
Inter dropped to second in the rankings on Friday when Juventus defeated champions Napoli 1-0.
Calhanoglu converted a penalty before sending up Federico Dimarco, and Marcus Thuram added a third goal for the 16-time champions before the break.
Lautaro Martinez of Argentina secured all three points with six minutes remaining to maintain his position as the league’s leading scorer.
“It’s important to respond to Juve who are behind us, it’s not easy to play after them,” Martinez was quoted as saying.
“I’m proud and I hope to score a lot of goals, but the most important thing is to help my teammates.”
“I care little about who scores, the important thing is to continue like this,” he went on to say.
Inter are two points ahead of Juventus and have not lost in Serie A or the Champions League since September 27.
Calhanoglu scored from the penalty spot after 38 minutes after Martinez was fouled.
Inter lead 3-0 at the break after the 29-year-old beautifully supplied wing-back Dimarco to score, and Thuram added his sixth league goal of the season a minute later.
Thuram’s goal came at the culmination of a 21-pass sequence that began in the Inter half.
With 23 minutes remaining, Udinese were denied a goal after on-loan Lorenzo Lucca was adjudged to be offside despite beating Yann Sommer.
Calhanoglu was substituted in the 71st minute by Albanian defensive midfielder Kristjan Asllani, who sealed the rout with six minutes remaining.
Martinez was tackled around the halfway line by Udinese midfielder Martin Payero and surged forward to rocket his shot into the bottom corner for his 14th goal of the season.
Inzaghi’s side will play Real Sociedad in the Champions League on Tuesday, having already qualified for the last 16 of the competition.
Muriel’s enchantment
Earlier, Atalanta defeated AC Milan thanks to a backheel from experienced Colombia attacker Luis Muriel in the 95th minute.
The three points dropped Atalanta a point below the fourth and final Champions League spot and prevented Milan from catching the top two in the table, leaders Juventus and local rivals Inter.
The defeat is only Milan’s fourth in the league this season, and it comes only days before Wednesday’s critical Champions League trip to Newcastle, where Stefano Pioli’s side must win to advance to the knockout stages.
Muriel’s first goal of the season came in Bergamo following two attempts by Nigerian attacker Ademola Lookman.
The visitors had equalised through France forward Olivier Giroud and Serbia forward Luka Jovic.
Muriel, 32, scored the game-winning goal after connecting with Aleksey Miranchuk’s drilled pass to give Atalanta their first league victory since October 30.
Roma, in fourth place, hosts Fiorentina, in sixth place, on Sunday.