Talking point: Inter won 4-1 on 1.16 xG. Monza had 1.09

Inter 4-1 Monza looks like a rout, and in points terms it was. But the expected-goals board is startlingly level: Inter 1.16, Monza 1.09. Four goals to one off near-identical chance quality is not domination of the game — it is domination of the finishing, and that distinction is the whole story here.

Inter had 71% of the ball and turned five shots on target into four goals — Hakan Çalhanoğlu inside six minutes, then Piotr Zieliński, Francesco Esposito and Yann Bisseck after the break. Andy Diouf supplied two assists. That is elite conversion: take your good moments, bury them, move on. On another night three of those become saves and it is a tight game.

Gustavo Varela’s 29th-minute equaliser was no fluke — 1.09 xG says Monza created a genuine afternoon’s worth of chances and simply had nobody to finish them. They will watch this back and see a performance far better than 4-1, which is both encouraging and maddening for a side that needs points, not moral victories.

Inter will happily bank the three points and the goal difference; winning ugly-underneath-the-numbers is a skill title contenders need. But the honest read is that this was closer than any 4-1 has a right to be. Inter’s edge was cold-blooded finishing — not, on this evidence, a gulf in class.