It was a historic day for Bosnian forward Edin Dzeko as he managed to net his 100th and 101st goals in Serie A as Inter got all three points against Sassuolo at the Mapei Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
He got the first goal against Sassuolo towards the end of the first half and made it 1-0 to the away side. The Bosnian was quickest to act when the ball fell loose from a corner and he instinctively swept the ball into the bottom corner.
After an equaliser from Davide Frattesi, he got another goal in the 75th minute when he nodded in from a cross, relatively unchallenged and without breaking his stride.
The result for Inter is crucial as it ends their poor run of form in Serie A and makes it two from two in all competitions.
Dzeko remains Mr. Consistent in Serie A
Edin Dzeko has, for essentially his entire career, been a serially underrated striker. You get the sense that he likes it that way. He is an understated character when on the pitch, and the majority of his goals come from being in the right place at the right time rather than through immense individual skill.
It should be said, he has scored some absolutely gorgeous goals in his time in the Italian top flight. Generally though, he is a poacher with a remarkable instinct for goal and that has led him to the magic number of 100.
As has time at AS Roma came to an end, it did seem that he may have gone over the hill and he could not compete at this level week-in-week-out anymore. Then the call from Inter came, in response to Romelu Lukaku being sold to Chelsea for €115 million.
Many fans were, somewhat understandably, not very thrilled to replace Lukaku with a combination of Dzeko and Joaquin Correa. As things turned out, Dzeko did a pretty good job of replacing the Belgian by himself considering his age.
He was 35 years old for the majority of the 2021/22 season and he managed to get 13 Serie A goals along with seven assists. He also got three Champions League goals and one in the Coppa Italia.
He is even older this season but with Lukaku having been out injured for much of this season and Lautaro Martinez struggling to find goals, it is key that his 100th and 101st Serie A goals take him to three in nine games when he is not supposed to be the primary provider of goals.
He has routinely stepped up when those around him have not been able to do what’s expected of them. Goal 101 saw him breeze into the box to plant a header into the bottom corner, looking relatively unchallenged by the Sassuolo defence.
Dzeko becomes third-oldest Serie A 100 club member
Given he is 36 years old, Dzeko finds himself towards the older end of the spectrum of players that can boast 100 Serie A goals. Sergio Pellissier and Goran Pandev are the only two players older than him with at least 100 goals.
The bulk of his offering of course came during the many years he spent in Rome with the Giallorossi. He joined them in the 2015/16 season and he got eight of his Serie A goals that year.
It was the following season where he really showed his immense quality as he got an incredible 29 league goals as well as 12 assists. That is a key reason why he is one of the best forward’s that Europe has seen in recent history. He has 48 Serie A assists to his name, meaning his contribution stems well beyond the many goals he scores.
He may not have curried favour from Roma fans by scoring against them twice since he joined Inter, but they will not forget the 85 Serie A goals that he got for them and the 34 goals he got in other competitoins.
For Inter, he could bail them out in a few more games this season before Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez start to find the back of the net on a regular basis.
