Inter went back to the top of the Serie A table with a routine 3-1 win against Roma at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on Saturday.
Goals from Denzel Dumfries, Marcelo Brozovic and Lautaro Martinez took the Nerazzurri to victory, continuing their excellent record against the team from the Italian capital, despite a late strike from Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
It was not the result or performance that former Inter coach Jose Mourinho will have been looking for, with the defeat coming as a big blow to the Giallorossi s hopes of European qualification.
Simone Inzaghi will have been very pleased with what he saw from his team, who move a point ahead of Milan in the race for the Scudetto having played the same number of games, with their city rivals facing Lazio in Rome on Sunday.
Inter took the lead just before the half-hour mark as some neat play from the home side saw Hakan Calhanoglu play a through ball to Dumfries, who ran onto it like a striker to slide the opener past Rui Patricio.
It was 2-0 just 10 minutes later as Brozovic found himself on the left side of the penalty area, before cutting inside Gianluca Mancini and firing into the far top corner of the net.
The third arrived early in the second half as a neat ball from Nicolo Barella found Martinez, whose shot was parried behind for a corner, but the Argentine headed home the resulting outswinging delivery from Calhanoglu.
There was nearly a calamitous fourth as a cross from the right was helped back to Patricio by Rick Karsdorp, and realising he could not pick the ball up, the Portugal international urgently kicked the ball away before Joaquin Correa could take advantage.
Mkhitaryan fired in a consolation past Samir Handanovic from just inside the box with five minutes remaining but it was too little too late for the visitors.
What does it mean? Nerazzurri look good for title run-in
This was a surprisingly comfortable win for Inter, coming up against a Roma side that had not been beaten in 12 Serie A matches, the longest unbeaten streak for the Giallorossi in a single league campaign since May 2016 (17 under Luciano Spalletti).
However, the ease with which they took a two-goal lead allowed them to manage the game from there, and in truth the visitors gave them very few problems.
Inter remain unbeaten in their last 10 Serie A matches against Roma (W4 D6). The last side to reach 10 straight matches without defeat against them in the competition was Milan between 1988 and 1996 (17).
Title credentials on show again
When Inter were beaten 2-0 at home by Liverpool in the Champions League and then again by Sassuolo in the league in late February, things looked bleak for Inzaghi s side.
However, they have gone unbeaten in 11 games in all competitions since then, and have won their last five, sealing a place in the Coppa Italia final and top spot in Serie A, for now.
Inter a special problem for Mourinho
Returning to one of his former clubs where he enjoyed so much success was meant to be a pleasure for the self-proclaimed special one , but it was yet another day of misery for him.
Mourinho took charge of Inter for 76 Serie A games between 2008 and 2010, averaging 2.2 points per game. After this defeat, the Nerazzurri are the only team against which the Portuguese has lost 100 per cent of his matches against (among sides he has faced more than once in the competition).
Key Opta Facts
Inter have scored six goals combined against Roma in a single Serie A campaign for the first time since 2008-09 (seven), in that case under Mourinho.
For the first time in his career, Hakan Calhanoglu has provided 10 assists in a single season in the top-five European leagues.
Since 2017-18 only Luis Alberto (44) has provided more assists than Calhanoglu (41) in Serie A.
Perisic (36) has provided more assists than any other Inter player in the last 15 Serie A seasons, overtaking Maicon (35).
Inter have won three Serie A matches in a row against Roma for the first time since 1999.
Only Theo Hernandez (10) has been involved in more goals than Dumfries (9: 5 goals and 4 assists) among defenders in Serie A this season.
What’s next?
Inter travel to Bologna on Wednesday for more Serie A action, while Roma head to England to face Leicester City in their Europa Conference League semi-final first leg on Thursday.
