Inter Milan beat Shakhtar in Europa League semi-final: Records broken
Inter Milan drubbed Shakhtar Donetsk 5-0 in the second semi-final of Europa League on Monday at Dusseldorf. Both Lautaro Martinez and Romelu Lukaku registered a brace each as the Italian club secured a berth in the final. Notably, a win in the final would see Inter lift their first continental trophy since their emphatic Champions League title under Jose Mourinho in 2010.
Martinez opened the scoring in the 19th minute, giving Inter an early 1-0 lead. In the second half, Danilo D'Ambrosio directed Marcelo Brozovic's corner kick past Pyatov to double their advantage. A few moments later, Martinez added his second goal of the night with Lukaku snapping up two more in the 78th and 83rd respectively.
Inter's 5-0 win over Shakhtar is the biggest margin of victory in a single Europa League/UEFA Cup semi-final game. They have now scored during the first half in nine of their last ten European matches. With this win, Inter will make their fifth appearance in the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League final, wherein only opponents Sevilla have featured more (six times).
Lukaku has been directly involved in 18 goals in his last ten Europa League matches (14 goals and 4 assists). The Belgian striker has scored in ten successive games, the longest goal-scoring streak by a player in UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League history. Notably, he played his 50th game for Inter across all competitions, more than any other player in Serie A 2019/20.
Martinez and Lukaku became the first duo to record 20+ goals each in a single season for Inter Milan since Adriano and Obafemi Martins, who reached the milestone in the 2004/05 campaign.
Martinez has scored five times in his six appearances in this season's UEFA Champions League group stage, however, he didn't score in four European games before this clash. And, he scored twice in the Europa League semi-final against Shakhtar. Meanwhile, Danilo D'Ambrosio has three goals in his last five games for Inter, as many as he had netted in his previous 58 appearances.
