MILAN, Italy- - Inter Milan fought back from two goals down to beat Udinese 5-3 on Monday, maintaining their perfect Serie A start alongside AS Roma, who won 2-0 at Torino ahead of Saturday's clash between the joint leaders.
Both sides have 12 points from four matches and share top spot ahead of their showdown at the Stadio Olimpico, while Como are third on 10 points after beating Parma 2-1.
Udinese stunned Inter with two goals in the opening 16 minutes, as James Abankwah headed home unmarked after nine minutes before Jurgen Ekkelenkamp doubled the visitors' lead with a close-range finish seven minutes later.
Inter hit back through Carlos Augusto, whose long-range effort flew into the bottom corner, before Nicolo Barella levelled 10 minutes before halftime.
The champions completed the turnaround in the 59th minute when Marcus Thuram netted from inside the box after Andy Diouf's cutback from the byline. Francesco Esposito added a fourth and Ange-Yoan Bonny made it 5-2 with 11 minutes remaining.
Udinese pulled one back in stoppage time through Idrissa Gueye, but it proved no more than a consolation.
Roma Keep It Perfect
Roma made it four wins from four league matches with a 2-0 victory at Torino, thanks to goals from Donyell Malen and Niccolo Pisilli.
Malen broke the deadlock five minutes before the interval after pouncing on a misplaced pass from goalkeeper Lucas Perri that had been intercepted by Paulo Dybala.
Pisilli wrapped up the win in stoppage time, firing home from an angle after Gianluca Mancini kept the ball in play near the byline.
Roma coach Gian Piero Gasperini praised the understanding between Malen and Dybala.
“Clearly, these are two players who are very talented individually, but they also complete each other as a pair. They combine beautifully to create goals in many games,” he told DAZN Italia.
Looking ahead to Saturday's meeting with champions Inter, he added: “It is an opportunity for us to measure up against the best and show we can do better than in recent performances.”
Elsewhere, Como followed up their winning Champions League debut against RB Leipzig with a 2-1 home win over Parma in Serie A, with Jacobo Ramon and Kaiki Bruno scoring for Cesc Fabregas's side.
"This is an important victory for me as a coach, because I am starting to realise what team we could become," Fabregas said.
