Inter's dramatic comeback over Napoli in Serie A highlights Thuram-Martinez partnership

Inter's stunning comeback over Napoli won't soon be forgotten with five goals, 29 shots, eight on target, eight big chances created and an overall expected goal total of 4.58. If you haven't watched the Serie A game between Inter and Napoli, this is what you've missed just in the second half. Yes, you read that right. It was one of the best games in the recent history of the Italian Serie A as Cristian Chivu's Inter finished their comeback in the last minutes of the second half at San Siro against Napoli.

After an exciting first half, the score remained goalless, with Federico Dimarco's effort against the post the closest either side came to breaking the deadlock. The opening 45 minutes, however, were only a glimpse of what was to come after the break. The team led by Massimiliano Allegri managed to score two at the beginning of the second half with Matteo Politano and Rasmus Hojlund, capitalizing on two big mistakes made by the Nerazzurri's defense. It took just three minutes after the restart following the second goal for Lautaro Martinez, brilliantly set up by Federico Dimarco, to give Inter a deserved goal. However, the home fans had to wait until the 82nd minute to celebrate again, when Marcus Thuram found the equaliser.

It wasn't over yet.

Inter seemed in much better shape than Napoli in the whole second part of the game, despite Napoli also having two huge chances to score their own third goal with David Neres and Zambo Anguissa on counterattacks, but the way Inter conducted the second half paid off at the end as Lautaro found his second goal of the game and the winning goal of the day in Milan.

How Inter won it

Inter manager Cristian Chivu made some key moves that paid off at the end of the game. Despite a positive end of the first half, the Inter head coach decided to make two changes at halftime and replaced Petar Sucic and Francesco Pio Esposito with new signing Curtis Jones and Marcus Thuram, also to help Lautaro Martinez to play in his natural role as he was more able to work on the verticality in the attack. Despite conceding two goals in the opening minutes of the second half, Inter didn't change its attitude, and it turned out to be a good move for them. Inter's roster is arguably the deepest in Italy, and the Nerazzurri once again demonstrated the strength of their squad by bringing on Carlos Augusto, Hakan Calhanoglu, and Yann Bonny in the latter stages of the second half. Their introductions highlighted both the quality of the squad and the wealth of options available to Chivu.

Above all, the most important change of the second half was the one of Thuram. The French striker perfectly fits with Lautaro Martinez, even though the two are still not in their best form after playing the 2026 World Cup and starting the pre-season later than their teammates. Pio Esposito had to battle the Napoli defenders one-on-one, but his presence also changed Lautaro Martínez's role. The Argentine was often forced to drop deeper, almost into a defensive midfield position to get on the ball, while also operating more like a number ten and helping link up with his teammates. Everything changed once Thuram came on. Lautaro immediately benefited from having a more natural attacking partner alongside him, as shown by the two decisive goals the pair combined to produce. This is one of the areas where Chivu can work in the coming weeks, improving the understanding and chemistry between his strikers as they rotate throughout games.

How Napoli lost it

On the other hand, Napoli struggled much more in the second half despite also having the chances to score a third goal in the final minutes. For sure, we could all expect more from Napoli midfielder Kevin De Bruyne when he came on in the final part of the game, underlining how Allegri can improve his team in the future. Napoli's tactical approach became increasingly unclear in the second half after they scored twice, prompting Allegri to introduce the Belgian midfielder in an attempt to bring greater calm and vision to the game. However, since coming on in the 62nd minute, he managed just 15 touches, clearly not enough involvement for a player of his quality and influence.

The players who came on didn't make the same impact as the Inter ones: David Neres had a chance to seal the win in the final minutes of the second half, but his effort went wide. Lorenzo Lucca struggled to make an impact due to a lack of service, while Billy Gilmour was similarly unable to influence the game. Another disappointment was Benoit Badiashile, who failed to react quickly enough to Thuram's header just a few minutes after coming on. Now, Napoli will meet Arsenal at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in their Champions League debut, another tough test after facing and losing against Como and Inter in the last week. Allegri was hired in the summer to replace Antonio Conte and he will be under pressure to find answers quickly. This is why the Champions League opening game could provide the perfect stage to do so, despite facing the Premier League title holders and the Champions League finalists of the past season.