Calhanoglu scores in the ninth minute again, and Inter grind out the rest in Sardinia

Inter did not make this comfortable. They rarely do in Sardinia. But Hakan Calhanoglu settled it early, and a defence that has not conceded yet this season did the rest.

The goal came on nine minutes. Nicolo Barella cut in from the right and rolled it back for Calhanoglu, who took a touch and drilled it low into the bottom corner from outside the box. It is his second goal in two matchdays, both from distance, both the opener.

Cagliari made them sweat

After that Inter kept the ball — around 65% of it — without turning control into a second goal. Lautaro Martinez, Luis Henrique and Pio Esposito all had openings and none of them took one. Elia Caprile, the Cagliari goalkeeper, made a string of saves to keep his side in it.

Cagliari's best moment came late. On 85 minutes Michel Adopo caught a shot cleanly from the edge of the box and Yann Bisseck threw himself in front of it. That was as close as the hosts got.

How each side arrived at the Unipol Domus

Inter had opened the title defence four days earlier with a 4-1 win over promoted Monza at San Siro, and it followed a similar script: Calhanoglu again scored first from distance, this time in the sixth minute, only for Monza to level through Gustavo Varela before half-time. Inter settled it with three goals in fifteen second-half minutes — Piotr Zielinski, Pio Esposito and Yann Bisseck all scoring inside a spell that turned a 1-1 game into a rout. So the pattern at Cagliari was not new: Calhanoglu strikes early, the opponent digs in, and Inter eventually find a way to make the lead stand up, even if this time there was no repeat of the second-half avalanche.

Cagliari, for their part, had won on the opening weekend too. Alessandro Romano settled a stubborn 0-0 at Parma with a strike from outside the box on 79 minutes, after Cagliari themselves had already hit the woodwork three times without scoring. Fabio Pisacane's first league game in charge of the club had finished with all three points, which is why Inter arrived in Sardinia facing a Cagliari side with something to defend rather than a team just trying to survive its first fixture of the season.

Match facts

• 9' — Hakan Calhanoglu (Inter), assisted by Nicolo Barella

The total shot count is left out on purpose: the outlets that covered the game could not agree on it, with figures for Inter alone ranging from the high teens to the low thirties. Everything above comes from the same match report.

What's next

Inter are one of four sides on a perfect six points after two rounds, provisionally top on goal difference with two of the matchday's games still to play. Cagliari sit on three points, mid-table, level on the win they took on the opening weekend. Serie A pauses now for the international break; when it returns in mid-September, Inter go to Roma and Cagliari travel to Udinese.

The perfect start held one round longer

It did stay perfect for one more round. On matchday 3, Inter fell 2-0 behind at home to Napoli inside 53 minutes before Lautaro Martínez scored either side of a Marcus Thuram header, the second Lautaro goal landing in the first minute of stoppage time to complete a 3-2 comeback. Three wins from three games left Inter on 9 points, second in the Serie A table on goal difference alone, a single point behind leaders Roma.

Cagliari's position has not moved since this defeat: as the table stood after matchday 3, they were held at their matchday-2 numbers — 12th on 3 points from 2 games played, one win and one loss — because their round-three fixture against Lecce had not yet been played. That game, once it is in the books, will say more about where this Cagliari side really sits than either the opening win at Parma or this loss to the champions.