Inter beat Udinese 5-3 at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on Sunday evening, and the match turned on a nine-minute sequence before half-time in which Chivu's side erased a two-goal deficit and went in level — a recovery that set the template for everything that followed.
Udinese arrived at the Meazza having gone ahead inside 9 minutes through defender James Abankwah, assisted by Unai Gómez, and doubled that lead at 16' when Jürgen Ekkelenkamp converted a Keinan Davis assist. Two goals up against a side that had won its opening three Serie A fixtures, Kosta Runjaić's team had every reason to believe the evening was theirs to manage. Inter coach Cristian Chivu's side had other ideas. Carlos Augusto pulled one back for the Nerazzurri at 26' — unassisted, which made it the more emphatic statement — and Nicolo Barella, Inter's midfielder, levelled at 35' from a Marcus Thuram assist. The half ended 2-2, and the psychological weight of that recovery was considerable: Inter had been behind, had not panicked, and had found the equaliser before the break.
The second half belonged almost entirely to the home side. Marcus Thuram, Inter's forward, converted an Andy Diouf assist at 57' to give Inter the lead for the first time, and Pio Esposito extended it to 4-2 at 67' with Piotr Zielinski providing the assist. The fifth came from substitute Ange-Yoan Bonny at 79', nine minutes after he had replaced Thuram — a goal that rendered Idrissa Gueye's consolation at 90', assisted by Vakoun Issouf Bayo, entirely academic.
Thuram is the individual whose fingerprints are most visible across the result. The Inter forward assisted Barella's equaliser at 35', then scored the lead-taking goal at 57' to flip the match's direction, and remained involved enough that his withdrawal at 70' prompted an immediate attacking response from the bench. His contribution spanned both the recovery and the consolidation: the equaliser that steadied Inter and the goal that gave them control are both traceable to him. Bonny's finish at 79' — within nine minutes of coming on — confirmed that the depth behind Thuram is genuine.
Udinese's difficulty was structural rather than incidental. They created the conditions for a famous result — two goals up inside 16 minutes against an unbeaten side — and then conceded twice before half-time to a team that had not yet been behind in the season. The early yellow card for Keinan Davis at 45' added pressure on a midfield that was already being asked to hold a lead against Inter's quality. Runjaić's side came into this match having taken four points from their opening three Serie A games, a respectable return, but the defensive fragility that allowed five goals here — none of them penalties or own goals — is a more pressing concern than the attacking output that produced three.
Inter's form arc through four Serie A matches now reads four wins, no draws, no defeats, with thirteen goals scored and six conceded. The concession of three goals here is the only blemish on what is otherwise a dominant early-season picture; the Nerazzurri had shipped three goals across their first three matches combined, so Udinese's first-half performance at least demonstrated that the defence is not impenetrable. For Udinese, the last three Serie A matches have produced one win, no draws, and two defeats, with seven goals scored and nine conceded — a goals-against figure that will concern Runjaić more than the attacking numbers flatter him.
Five goals, a comeback from two down, and a substitute on the scoresheet within nine minutes of entering: this match will be remembered as the evening Inter showed they can be rattled and recover without breaking stride.