Monza were level at San Siro at half-time, and Inter scored three times in fifteen minutes
Inter’s Serie A title defence was 1-1 against a promoted side at the break. Three goals in fifteen second-half minutes turned it into a 4-1.
Aug 23, 2026
Inter began the defence of their Serie A title at San Siro on Saturday evening, and for 45 minutes it did not look much like a defence. Monza, promoted through the Serie B play-offs after a single season down, went in level at 1-1. Inter then scored three times in fifteen minutes, and the table records a 4-1.
Calhanoglu from 25 yards, and a 21-year-old answered
The opening goal took six minutes. Francesco Pio Esposito held a defender off long enough to feed Andy Diouf, Diouf rolled it to Hakan Calhanoglu on the edge of the box, and the Turkey midfielder hit it into the roof of the net from around 25 yards. Nothing about it suggested the next half hour would be awkward.
It was. Monza’s equaliser on 29 minutes came from Gustavo Varela, a 21-year-old forward Ivan Juric’s side signed from Benfica this summer for a reported two million euros plus add-ons. Mathis Mout found him, Varela turned Manuel Akanji and finished. It was his first appearance in Serie A. Varela was born in Lisbon in January 2005 and spent last season on loan at Gil Vicente, six goals in 32 games in the Portuguese top flight. Monza have him on a five-year contract.
Half-time at 1-1, with the champions holding the ball and getting nowhere particular with it.
Three goals in fifteen minutes
Piotr Zielinski put Inter back in front three minutes after the restart. Federico Dimarco swung in a corner, Monza goalkeeper Semuel Pizzignacco punched at it and missed properly, and Zielinski swept the loose ball in.
Cristian Chivu then made a double change on 54 minutes that reads oddly on paper, taking off Calhanoglu and captain Lautaro Martinez with his side only a goal up. Petar Sucic and Ange-Yoan Bonny came on. Inter scored twice in the next nine minutes.
Esposito got the pick of the four on 55 minutes, a back-heel flick at the near post from another Diouf ball. Eight minutes after that he turned provider, squaring for Yann Bisseck to finish through the middle with his left foot.
Inter had about 70 per cent of the ball and five shots on target to Monza’s three, but the expected-goals count barely separated the sides. The gap between that and the final score is the interesting part of the evening. Monza lived with them for an hour. Inter simply had four players capable of finishing what they got, and Monza had one error in them at the wrong moment.
Stones gets his first minutes
John Stones came on for Akanji on 75 minutes for his Inter debut, three weeks after joining on a free from Manchester City. The 32-year-old spent a decade at City and left when his contract expired at the end of June. Aleksandar Stankovic also made his first appearance, on for Zielinski with seven minutes left.
Chivu won the Scudetto in his first season in charge, Inter’s 21st, sealed by a 2-0 win over Parma on 3 May with three rounds still to play. Opening weekends tell you very little in August. A defending champion who spends a half being held by a promoted side and then puts four past them is at least recognisable as the team that won it.
Juric will take something from the first half. Varela looks worth watching, and Monza did not come apart until the goalkeeping error. Whether that holds up over a season against the sides they will actually be fighting is a different question, and they start answering it next weekend.