Lazio strengthened their grip on second place in Serie A with Saturday’s impressive 2-1 win over Juventus.
Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Mattia Zaccagni struck the goals which sank Juve and gave Maurizio Sarri’s team a great chance of reaching the Champions League next season.
Lazio are five points ahead of Roma in third and most importantly seven in front of Inter Milan, who have been knocked out of the top four after drawing 1-1 at Salernitana, the only point they have collected from their last four matches.
Italian winger Zaccagni was a menace all night and ended a superb team move by sweeping home his 10th goal of the season from Luis Alberto’s wonderfully disguised flick.
Zaccagni had set up Milinkovic-Savic’s 38th-minute opener, which was cancelled out almost immediately by Adrien Rabiot’s bundled leveller, and also had a goal ruled out for offside just after putting Lazio ahead.
The hosts’ win is also great news for Napoli, whose huge league has been cut back to 16 points but now no longer have to worry about seventh-placed Juve.
The Turin giants, who pushed for a second equaliser are hoping to have a 15-point penalty for illicit transfer activity revoked later this month but even if they succeed they would only be a point ahead of Lazio.
Massimiliano Allegri’s side face Sporting Lisbon in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final on Thursday with their hopes of making Europe through the league dented.
AFP
