Martinez eyeing treble for Inter after statement win at Atalanta

Argentina striker Lautaro Martinez made sure of a key win in a three-way title battle with his 18th goal of the season in all competitions in the 87th minute in Bergamo, and he was bullish about his team's chances of repeating a feat Inter achieved under Jose Mourinho 15 years ago.

Simone Inzaghi's Inter have pulled further away from closest Serie A rivals Napoli, who could only manage a goalless draw at lowly Venezia in the day's early kick-off and are still in the Champions League and Italian Cup.

Inter face Bayern Munich, who they beat in the 2010 Champions League final, next month while two Milan derbies await in the domestic cup semi-finals which will also be played in April.

"It's almost like we don't want to say it but yes," said Inter skipper Martinez on 'DAZN' when asked about the treble. "It will be difficult but we'll go for it because we want to win every match we play. It's what we work for."

Martinez's confident mood came after Inter took a big step towards retaining their league crown in a tetchy match which ended with both teams down to 10 men and Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini sent to the stands.

Carlos Augusto put Inter ahead eight minutes after half-time, taking advantage of distracted Atalanta defending immediately after a five-minute pause in the match for a fan who needed medical assistance.

The Brazilian headed home Hakan Calhanoglu's corner and the champions never looked back from that point.

Inter take control

Inter's cause was helped by Ederson being booked twice within a matter of seconds, for dissent and then sarcastically applauding referee Davide Massa, and leaving Atalanta a man down from the 81st minute.

Martinez rammed home Inter's second six minutes later and soon after a livid Gasperini, who was still raging at Ederson's sending-off, was dismissed by Massa.

That wasn't the end of the action however as with 11 minutes of added time due to the fan previously needing help in the stands, Alessandro Bastoni was punished for a series of fouls with the match's third red card.

That changed nothing for Atalanta however, whose dream of winning their first ever Scudetto is fading as Gasperini's side stay third and now trail Inter by six points with nine matches remaining.

Atalanta haven't won at home in Serie A since before Christmas and Gasperini was left to stew over Ederson's dismissal which he claimed killed an even game.

"That referee ruined the end of the match because you hear a lot worse said to referees than that sarcastic applause," said Gasperini. "We lost a player who should not have been sent off... to ruin a match like that for that sort of incident is really bad for the fans and the two teams on the pitch."