Serie A’s top goalscorer will not be moving to the Chinese Super League anytime soon.
Mauro Icardi scored again to help Inter Milan come from behind to beat Chievo Verona 3-1 on Saturday, and his goalscoring rate is sure to be garnering attention among the new pacesetters in the global transfer market.
However, Icardi, who turns 24 on Thursday, insists he is not about to follow the likes of Carlos Tevez, Axel Witsel, Oscar, and John Obi Mikel to China.
«I renewed my contract at the beginning of the year and I’m happy to stay with this shirt,» Icardi said. «There’s always time to go to China at the end of my career. »
Icardi scored the equalizer in the 69th minute, volleying in Antonio Candreva’s stunning cross from the right.
Icardi’s 15th goal in 20 league matches moved him two clear of Roma forward Edin Dzeko and Torino’s Andrea Belotti in the goalscoring charts.
Icardi also had a hand in the winner, four minutes from time. He won the ball back in midfield and set up Ivan Perisic, who raced towards goal before firing past Stefano Sorrentino after the Chievo defenders backed away from him.
Eder topped the scoring in stoppage time.
Inter extended its winning run in the league to five matches and moved up to fifth, level on points with AC Milan, which has played two matches less than Stefano Pioli’s side and visits Torino on Monday. Chievo remained 11th.
«We had a great game,» Icardi said. «We’ve shown we have character for several games now. »
Inter dominated the match and only Sorrentino’s heroics in goal prevented it from taking the lead.
The 37-year-old goalkeeper made some fine stops, including twice preventing new signing Roberto Gagliardini from scoring on his debut.
At the other end, a fellow veteran gave Chievo a surprise lead, completely against the run of play, with the 37-year-old Sergio Pellissier volleying in a corner.
Pellissier almost doubled his tally in the opening minute of the second half but Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic got down smartly to beat away his effort.
Sorrentino made another fantastic stop to keep out Perisic’s header from point-blank range, and he also twice denied Eder before he was finally beaten.
Overall, Inter had 31 attempts on goal, 14 of which were on target.
Inter is nine points behind league leader Juventus, which visits Fiorentina on Sunday.
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CROTONE 0 BOLOGNA 1
Crotone looks ever more likely to go straight back down to Serie B after a 14th defeat of the season left it bottom, eight points from safety.
Bologna moved up to 14th, 13 points off the relegation zone after Blerim Dzemaili’s 51st-minute strike.
