In a game between one club aiming to win the league and another focusing on staying in it, Inter took just six minutes to open the scoring as Marcus Thuram capitalised on Frédéric Guilbert’s under-hit pass and elegantly teed up Davide Frattesi for a simple finish.
The hosts responded well to the setback, with Federico Baschirotto heading off-target from a promising corner before Stefan de Vrij was booked having been forced into a panicked sliding tackle on Nikola Krstović.
The Nerazzurri soon got back on top but the hosts had three let-offs in quick succession. An attempted clearance bounced off Santiago Pierotti and into Thuram’s path, but the forward placed his shot wide before Carlos Augusto and Frattesi each had the ball in the net, only for both strikes to be flagged offside.
Patrick Dorgu almost made the most of those narrow escapes with a shot that bobbled past the post. Instead, the hosts’ loose play contributed to Inter scoring a second through their captain in the 39th minute, as Lautaro Martínez jinked inside and drilled a venomous strike past Wladimiro Falcone.
Lecce emerged from the restart defiantly and showed real intent, although Krstović and Þórir Jóhann Helgason both sent an attempt off-target and Krstović saw two more shots saved by Yann Sommer within 10 second-half minutes.
However, they were then hit with a real blow as Denzel Dumfries got away from Baschirotto and curled his effort out of Falcone’s reach. Just three minutes later, the goalkeeper brought Frattesi down for a penalty that Mehdi Taremi converted for his first Serie A goal.
Sommer made a brilliant stop to deny Ylber Ramadani’s strike from range, ensuring Inter kept a clean sheet on their way to securing the eighth win from their last nine completed Serie A matches.
As a result, they climb back to within three points of league leaders SSC Napoli, while also having a game in hand on Gli Azzurri. In contrast, Lecce have suffered back-to-back defeats leaving them one place and one point above the relegation zone.