Martinez grabs hat-trick as Inter smash five past Salernitana

MILAN : Inter Milan moved top of Serie A after thrashing bottom side Salernitana 5-0 at the San Siro on Friday with Lautaro Martinez celebrating the end of his goal drought with a hat-trick.

Victory gave Simone Inzaghi's Inter side a one-point lead over second-placed Napoli and derby rivals AC Milan. Salernitana remain rooted to the bottom - 10 points from the safety zone.

Inter took the lead in the 22nd minute when Nicolo Barella unlocked the defence with a sublime through-ball for Martinez, who beat the offside trap and found the bottom corner to score his first goal in 10 appearances.

Barella was running the midfield and the pair combined again before halftime when Martinez found space between two defenders and delayed his shot to make room for himself before sliding the ball past a hapless Luigi Sepe in Salernitana's goal.

Martinez completed his hat-trick 11 minutes after the break when Edin Dzeko laid the ball into the box for the 24-year-old Argentine striker to smash it into the net.

Dzeko had created numerous opportunities in the game and the striker was duly rewarded when he scored twice in five minutes, first finishing at the near post from Robin Gosens' cut back before putting away Denzel Dumfries's cross on a counter-attack.

(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)