Inter Milan have leapfrogged Roma into fourth in the Serie A table courtesy of a 3-1 victory over out-of-form Sampdoria at San Siro this evening.
Roberto Mancini's side went into the match having won only one of their last eight games, but goals from Danilo D'Ambrosio, Miranda and Mauro Icardi stopped the rot to hand Inter all three points.
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It was the visitors, now winless in eight, who had the first clear opening of the match when Andrea Ranocchia rose highest to meet a corner, only to plant his header narrowly over the crossbar.
Inter took the lead midway through the first half, though, when a corner was flicked on inside the box by Jeison Murillo to find D'Ambrosio at the back post, allowing him to sweep it home from close range.
There was no immediate reply from the visitors, but they threatened via the aerial route once again in the early stages of the second half, this time Dodo steering a header wide of the target.
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It was the hosts' corners that were causing the damage, though, and they got their second shortly before the hour mark when Felipe Melo nodded the latest delivery down into a dangerous area and Miranda fired it over the line, despite the best efforts of Emiliano Viviano in the Sampdoria goal.
The killer third goal arrived with just under 20 minutes remaining in the contest when Icardi capitalised on a defensive error to race clean through on goal before calmly slotting his finish into the bottom corner.
There was still time for Sampdoria to pull a late consolation goal back as Fabio Quagliarella spoiled Inter's clean sheet by firing in off the post from just outside the area in stoppage time.
It was too little too late for the visitors, though, as they remain just three points clear of danger, while Inter move up to fourth and are only one point off the Champions League places.
Barney Corkhill
