Mauro Icardi and Internazionale go from bad to worse with Cagliari defeat

The Internazionale captain, Mauro Icardi, can do no right and a missed penalty in a 2-1 defeat by Cagliari in Serie A on Sunday will not help his cause with Inter fans.

Icardi had a fantastic start to the season, with six goals in seven matches, but angered “Ultras” at the club with comments in his autobiography, which the supporters called “lies”.

The Argentina forward attempted to placate the fans with a statement of his own on social media but he was jeered as he walked out before the match and was greeted in the San Siro by insulting banners .

The Inter vice-president, Javier Zanetti, has hinted Icardi could even lose the captaincy and some fans cheered when Icardi sent his penalty woefully wide in the 26th minute after he was pushed over by Bruno Alves.

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow, calmly, with respect to the footballer and respect to the fans,” Inter’s coach, Frank De Boer, said. “We have to find a solution because this situation is not good.

“It’s the most difficult moment since I’ve been in Italy. It’s not a question of bad luck. Today instead I saw a team which didn’t want to win and I think it’s a mental matter.”

Samir Handanovic’s late own-goal secured Cagliari a third straight Serie A win and sent Internazionale spiralling to a third successive defeat in all competitions.

Handanovic, the home goalkeeper, inadvertently forced the ball over his own goalline in the 85th minute to seal a 2-1 victory for the visitors after the Cagliari striker Federico Melchiorri (71) had cancelled out João Mario’s 55th-minute opener.

Milan climbed up to third in the table following a 3-1 win at Chievo, who have not beaten their Serie A rivals in almost 11 years.

Juraj Kucka and M’Baye Niang struck quickfire goals either side of half-time and, although Valter Birsa gave Chievo hope with a second-half free-kick, Dario Dainelli’s own-goal in stoppage time settled the issue.

Vincenzo Montella’s side made it five games unbeaten and became the first visiting team this season to win a league game at Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi.

Ciro Immobile’s stoppage-time penalty earned Lazio a 1-1 draw with Bologna and kept his side fourth in the table.

Immobile, who had hit the crossbar with a shot in the first half, stroked home from the spot seven minutes into time added on, after Marios Oikonomou’s foul on Wallace, to cancel out Filip Helander’s 11th-minute opener for Bologna.

Atalanta ended their nine-game losing streak at Fiorentina with a 0-0 draw. The Bergamo club have not won at the Stadio Artemio Franchi for 23 years while the Viola have yet to concede a home league goal in five games this season.

Sassuolo recorded a late comeback victory as they edged the bottom side, Crotone, 2-1 at Stadio Citta del Tricolore.

Diego Falcinelli gave Crotone an early lead but Stefano Sensi equalised with seven minutes left. Pietro Iemmello completed the fightback from close range three minutes from time.

Genoa extended their unbeaten run in Serie A to four matches but were held to a goalless home draw by Empoli after the midfielder Darko Lazovic was sent off. Lazovic was shown a second yellow card for his foul on Empoli’s Manuel Pasqual in the 34th minute.