There are wins that require patience and there are wins settled before the pitch has even warmed beneath the players' feet. Internazionale chose the latter at the Unipol Domus, striking with the game barely nine minutes old and then refusing to hand it back. Cagliari never recovered from that opening jolt, and by the end a single goal felt like a comfortable margin.

The scorer was Hakan Calhanoglu, the finisher was clinical, and the outcome was emphatic in its simplicity. One shot from outside the box, one perfect trajectory to the bottom right corner, and a contest that had promised so much drained of its jeopardy. Cagliari huffed and probed thereafter, but the decisive moment had already come and gone.

For Inter, this was the sort of away performance that separates title contenders from the rest: score early, control the tempo, protect the lead. Two games into the new campaign, they sit top of the table with a maximum haul, and there is a ruthlessness about them that opponents are already learning to fear.

The decisive blow

It took Nicolo Barella one moment of vision to unpick the afternoon. The midfielder, forever busy and forever probing, slipped the ball into space for Calhanoglu, and the invitation was accepted without hesitation. From outside the area the shot was struck with venom off the right foot, curling and dipping into the bottom right corner beyond a helpless goalkeeper.

The Unipol Domus fell silent in an instant. A crowd that had arrived expecting a spirited fight against the league leaders was instead confronted with the harsh reality of facing a side who punish the smallest lapse. Nine minutes was all it took, and the tone for the remainder was set.

Barella and Calhanoglu have become one of Serie A's most productive partnerships, the runner and the finisher reading one another with an almost telepathic ease. This was another chapter in that understanding, executed with the crispness of players who trust the pattern before it unfolds. Cagliari, by contrast, were left chasing shadows in the moments that mattered.

Cagliari's frustration

For the hosts, this was a chastening return to the harsh economics of the top flight. Having opened their campaign with a win and a defeat, they arrived hoping to build momentum on home soil against the division's early pacesetters. Instead they were undone by a single strike and never found the composure to respond in kind.

There was effort, and there were spells when Cagliari pushed forward with intent, but the final ball too often let them down. Against a defence as organised and as unflustered as Inter's, half-chances rarely become goals, and the hosts lacked the cutting edge to test their visitors in the way required. The scoreline flattered nobody but reflected the difference in ruthlessness.

The consequence is a night without reward and a slide into mid-table. Thirteenth place and three points is no cause for alarm this early, but the manner of the defeat will sting more than the result itself. Cagliari created little of substance once the goal went in, and that will be the point that lingers.

Inter set the pace

At the summit of Serie A after two matches, Internazionale have made the statement they intended. Six points from six, five goals scored and only one conceded, the numbers describe a team already humming in rhythm and hungry for more. This was not a vintage attacking display, but it did not need to be; the professionalism on show was arguably more impressive.

What stands out is the control. Having gone ahead so early, Inter dictated the pace, managed the game, and shut down the avenues Cagliari sought to exploit. There was a maturity to the performance, a sense of a side that knows exactly what a title challenge demands over the long haul of a season. The clean sheet, on the road, matters as much as the goal.

Calhanoglu's finish will grab the headlines, and rightly so, but the collective discipline behind it deserves equal billing. When a team can win comfortably while barely stretching itself, it sends a message to the rest of the division. Inter have delivered that message loudly and without fuss.

What comes next

For Internazionale, the challenge now is to sustain the standard they have set. Two wins from two is the perfect start, but the true measure of these opening weeks will come when the fixtures stiffen and the margins narrow. On this evidence, they possess the balance of steel and quality to keep pace at the front, and the confidence coursing through the squad is unmistakable.

Cagliari must regroup quickly. A single defeat does not define a season, and there is more than enough of the campaign left to climb the table, but the response will need to be immediate and purposeful. The performance offered flashes of endeavour without end product, and finding that final ingredient will be the priority in the days ahead.

For now, though, the story belongs to the visitors. One goal, delivered early and defended with authority, was enough to keep Internazionale top of Serie A and to reinforce the growing sense that they mean business. Cagliari, left to reflect on what might have been, know the gap between ambition and execution was laid bare in Sardinia.