Arnautovic bags a goal and an assist as Inter warms up for Bayern by beating Cagliari 3-1

MILAN (AP) — Marko Arnautovic scored one and set up another as Inter Milan prepared for its Champions League quarterfinal against Bayern Munich with a morale-boosting 3-1 win over Cagliari in Serie A on Sunday.

Lautaro Martínez and Yann Bisseck also scored for the Serie A leader to help it move six points clear of Napoli, which hosts relegation-threatened Empoli on Monday.

Cagliari was six points above the drop zone.

Inter coach Simone Inzaghi kept the squad rotation at a minimum despite Wednesday’s crucial match at San Siro, where the Nerazzurri will have a 2-1 lead from the first leg last week.

And Inter got off to the ideal start in the 13th minute. Carlos Augusto chested down Hakan Çalhanoğlu’s ball over the top towards Lautaro but instead Arnautovic pounced on it and smashed it into the roof of the net.

Lautaro did get his goal 13 minutes later when an intelligent pass from Arnautovic sent the Argentine World Cup winner racing clear through on goal and he dinked it over the onrushing Elia Caprile.

Inter gifted Cagliari a way back shortly after halftime as Roberto Piccoli was left completely unmarked to head in a goal for Cagliari.

But Bisseck headed in a corner seven minutes later.

Dusan Vlahovic provided two assists to help Juventus beat relegation-threatened Lecce 2-1 and strengthen its hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.

Juventus moved into third place, a point ahead of Atalanta, which hosts Bologna on Sunday in a direct battle for the top four.

Bologna is only a point below Atalanta and two above Lazio ahead of the capital derby against seventh-placed Roma — also on Sunday.

In Turin, it took Juventus less than 100 seconds to open the scoring. Vlahovic controlled a through ball from Khéphren Thuram and weighed his pass perfectly to send Teun Koopmeiners into the left side of the area for an angled drive into the far bottom corner.

Lecce almost responded immediately but Nikola Krstovic’s effort came off the right post.

Instead it was Juventus which doubled its lead in the 33rd with a delightful team goal. Thuram played a one-two with Kenan Yıldız and then passed to Vlahovic who touched it on for Yıldız to fire into the bottom right corner.

Lecce captain Federico Baschirotto headed into the bottom left corner three minutes from time but it proved just a consolation for the visitors.

Venezia boosted its hopes of avoiding the drop with a crucial 1-0 win over bottom club Monza, which seems ever more likely to be relegated.

Daniel Fila netted his first goal for Venezia, since joining the Italian club from Slavia Prague in February.

Fila was also sent off in stoppage time following a second yellow card.

Venezia moved level with Empoli, two points from safety.

Monza remained 11 points below 17th-placed Lecce, with just six rounds remaining.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Juventus' Teun Koopmeiners celebrates scoring during the Serie A soccer match between Juventus and Lecce at the Juventus Stadium in Turin, Italy, Saturday April 12, 2025. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)

Juventus' Kenan Yildiz, right, celebrates scoring during the Serie A soccer match between Juventus and Lecce at the Juventus Stadium in Turin, Italy, Saturday April 12, 2025. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)

Venezia's Daniel Fila, centre, celebrates after scoring their side's first goal of the game during the Serie A soccer match between Venezia and Monza at the Pier Luigi Penzo Stadium in Venice, Italy, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (Paola Garbuio/LaPresse via AP)

Venezia's Daniel Fila celebrates after scoring their side's first goal of the game during the Serie A soccer match between Venezia and Monza at the Pier Luigi Penzo Stadium in Venice, Italy, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (Paola Garbuio/LaPresse via AP)

Inter Milan's Yann Bisseck, top right, attempts a head at goal to scores his side's third goal during the Serie A soccer match between Inter Milan and Cagliari at the San Siro Stadium, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Cagliari's Roberto Piccoli, left, fights for the ball with Inter Milan's Nicolo Barella during the Serie A soccer match between Inter Milan and Cagliari at the San Siro Stadium, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Inter Milan's Lautaro Martinez scores their side's second goal of the game during the Serie A soccer match between Inter and Cagliari at San Siro Stadium in Milan, Italy, Saturday, April 12, 2025 (Spada/LaPresse via AP)

Inter Milan's Lautaro Martinez celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Serie A soccer match between Inter Milan and Cagliari at the San Siro Stadium, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (Spada/LaPresse via AP)

Inter Milan's Marko Arnautovic, left, scores his side's opening goal during the Serie A soccer match between Inter Milan and Cagliari at the San Siro Stadium, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Inter Milan's Marko Arnautovic, second left, celebrates with his teammates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Serie A soccer match between Inter Milan and Cagliari at the San Siro Stadium, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An astronaut in need of doctors' care departed the International Space Station with three crewmates on Wednesday in NASA's first medical evacuation.

The four returning astronauts — from the U.S., Russia and Japan — are aiming for an early Thursday morning splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego with SpaceX. The decision cuts short their mission by over a month.

“Our timing of this departure is unexpected,” NASA astronaut Zena Cardman said before the return trip, “but what was not surprising to me was how well this crew came together as a family to help each other and just take care of each other.”

Officials refused to identify the astronaut who needed care last week and would not divulge the health concerns.

The ailing astronaut is “stable, safe and well cared for,” outgoing space station commander Mike Fincke said earlier this week via social media. “This was a deliberate decision to allow the right medical evaluations to happen on the ground, where the full range of diagnostic capability exists."

Launched in August, Cardman, Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov should have remained on the space station until late February. But on Jan. 7, NASA abruptly canceled the next day’s spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke and later announced the crew’s early return. Officials said the health problem was unrelated to spacewalk preparations or other station operations, but offered no other details, citing medical privacy. They stressed it was not an emergency situation.

NASA said it would stick to the same entry and splashdown procedures at flight’s end, with the usual assortment of medical experts aboard the recovery ship in the Pacific. It was another middle-of-the-night crew return for SpaceX, coming less than 11 hours after undocking from the space station. NASA said it was not yet known how quickly all four would be flown from California to Houston, home to Johnson Space Center and the base for astronauts.

One U.S. and two Russian astronauts remain aboard the orbiting lab, just 1 1/2 months into an eight-month mission that began with a Soyuz rocket liftoff from Kazakhstan. NASA and SpaceX are working to move up the launch of a fresh four-person crew from Florida, currently targeted for mid-February.

Computer modeling predicted a medical evacuation from the space station every three years, but NASA hasn't had one in its 65 years of human spaceflight. The Russians have not been as fortunate. In 1985, Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Vasyutin came down with a serious infection or related illness aboard his country’s Salyut 7 space station, prompting an early return. A few other Soviet cosmonauts encountered less serious health issues that shortened their flights.

It was the first spaceflight for Cardman, a 38, biologist and polar explorer who missed out on spacewalking, as well as Platonov, 39, a former fighter pilot with the Russian air force who had to wait a few extra years to get to space because of an undisclosed health issue. Cardman should have launched last year but was bumped to make room on the way down for NASA’s Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who were stuck nearly a year at the space station because of Boeing’s capsule problems.

Fincke, 58, a retired Air Force colonel, and Yui, 55, a retired fighter pilot with the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, were repeat space fliers. Finke has spent 1 1/2 years in orbit over four missions and conducted nine spacewalks on previous flights, making him one of NASA’s top performers. Last week, Yui celebrated his 300th day in space over two station stays, sharing stunning views of Earth, including Japan’s Mount Fuji and breathtaking auroras.

“I want to burn it firmly into my eyes, and even more so, into my heart,” Yui said on the social platform X. “Soon, I too will become one of those small lights on the ground.”

NASA officials had said it was riskier to leave the astronaut in space without proper medical attention for another month than to temporarily reduce the size of the space station crew by more than half. Until SpaceX delivers another crew, NASA said it will have to stand down from any routine or even emergency spacewalks, a two-person job requiring backup help from crew inside the orbiting complex.

The medical evacuation was the first major decision by NASA’s new administrator Jared Isaacman. The billionaire founder of a payment processing company and two-time space flier assumed the agency’s top job in December.

“The health and the well-being of our astronauts is always and will be our highest priority,” Isaacman said in announcing the decision last week.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

This screengrab from video provided by NASA TV shows the SpaceX Dragon departing from the International Space Station shortly after undocking with four NASA Crew-11 members inside on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This screengrab from video provided by NASA TV shows the SpaceX Dragon departing from the International Space Station shortly after undocking with four NASA Crew-11 members inside on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This photo provided by NASA shows clockwise from bottom left are, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui gathering for a crew portrait wearing their Dragon pressure suits during a suit verification check inside the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory module, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)