Inter beat Milan 4-2, show support to China in battle against novel coronavirus

ROME - FC Internazionale Milano (best known as Inter) beat AC Milan 4-2 in Italy's Serie A on Sunday, catching up with Juventus at the top of the standings with 54 points each.

The derby at Giuseppe Meazza Stadium (commonly known as San Siro) in the northern city of Milan saw Inter players wear a special patch with the message "Forza China" as a show of support to the city of Wuhan and China as a whole in the battles against novel coronavirus epidemics.

The message "Today and always. Together as a team. Forza Wuhan" was also present in different areas of the stadium.

Milan scored twice at the end of the first half: Ante Rebic in the 40th minute and Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the 46th.

Inter evened the scores soon after the interval with goals by Marcelo Brozovic and Matias Vecino in the 51st and 53rd minutes, respectively.

Stefan de Vrij scored the third goal for Inter with a header in the 70th minute, followed by Romelu Lukaku with another header, three minutes into the injury time.

"We're with you, stay strong! This will be Inter's message to the city of Wuhan and the entire Chinese population in this difficult time after the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemics," Inter President Steven Zhang said in a statement issued prior to the match.

The young Chinese entrepreneur was appointed president of Inter in October 2018. His father, Zhang Jindong, is the chairman of Suning Holdings Group.

Steven Zhang and Inter have donated 300,000 face masks for medical use to Wuhan, where the novel coronavirus epidemic firstly broke out. The Suning Group has supported the cause since the outbreak of the emergency, providing free shipping and donating imported products to hospitals and local institutions in China, the team said in a statement.

Inter visited China in 1978, the first top European football club to do so.