Lazio go second as second-half fightback floors Inter\, Juventus beat 10-man Brescia

Lazio go second as second-half fightback floors Inter, Juventus beat 10-man Brescia

With goals from Ciro Immobile and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Lazio moved to second place on 56 points, one behind leaders Juventus, who beat Brescia 2-0, and two ahead of Inter in third.

By: Reuters | Published: February 17, 2020 10:43:01 am
Lazio extended their club-record unbeaten run in Serie A to 19 games. (Source: Reuters)

Lazio mounted a superb second-half comeback at the Olympic Stadium to beat Inter Milan 2-1 and move above Antonio Conte’s side into second place in Serie A on Sunday.

The visitors drew first blood when Ashley Young fired home his first Inter goal on the brink of halftime.

But Lazio drew level through a Ciro Immobile penalty early in the second half, before Sergej Milinkovic-Savic found space in a crowded box to curl in the winner on the 69th minute.

The victory moved Lazio into second on 56 points, one behind leaders Juventus and two ahead of Inter in third.

The result also saw the Roman club extend their club-record unbeaten run in Serie A to 19 games as they ended Inter’s own sequence of 16 games without a league defeat.

“We played a great game tonight,” Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi told Sky Sport Italia.

“In the first half we were so convinced we would win that we allowed a few avoidable Inter counter-attacks. At halftime, I said that if we continued to play like that with a little more quality in the final ball, we could turn this around and win the game.”

Lazio are second with 56 points, one point behind Juventus. (Source: Reuters)

Lazio came agonisingly close to the lead after just nine minutes when Milinkovic-Savic’s long-range shot cannoned back off the crossbar.

But it was Inter who broke the deadlock a minute before the interval, when Thomas Strakosha parried an Antonio Candreva shot into the path of Young, who fired a volley off the ground and into the roof of the net.

The hosts mustered a rapid response in the second half when Immobile was bundled over from behind by former Lazio defender Stefan De Vrij, and the Italy striker dispatched the resulting penalty to take his tally for the season to 26 league goals.

Lazio took the lead when Marcelo Brozovic’s goal-line clearance from an Adam Marusic shot fell into the path of Milinkovic-Savic, who found a pocket of space and guided a composed finish into the bottom corner.

“I thought it was a very balanced game, neither team dominated the other,” said Inter coach Conte. “It was decided by two goals that in my view were entirely avoidable.”

JUVENTUS EASES PAST BRESCIA

Goals from Paulo Dybala and Juan Cuadrado sent Juventus back to the top of the Serie A table with a 2-0 win over 10-man Brescia on Sunday.

Brescia striker Florian Aye picked up two yellow cards in three minutes near the end of the first half and Juventus immediately capitalised as Dybala whipped in the opener from a free-kick.

Cuadrado doubled their advantage with a neat finish after 75 minutes, and the home crowd were given more reason to cheer when captain Giorgio Chiellini came off the bench to make his first appearance since rupturing his cruciate ligament in August.

Maurizio Sarri rested forward Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored in 10 consecutive Serie A matches, and his gamble paid off as Juve eased to a win that moved them up to 57 points.

MERTENS HELPS NAPOLI WIN

A stunning finish from Dries Mertens earned Napoli a 1-0 win at Cagliari that moved them above the Sardinian side and into eighth place in Serie A on Sunday.

Gennaro Gattuso was looking for a reaction from his side after they fell to a shock 3-2 defeat at home by Lecce last weekend, and Mertens’ curling shot on the 65th minute was enough to edge them to victory.

The Belgian’s goal was a rare moment of quality in a keenly contested encounter, and moved him to within one goal of Marek Hamsik’s club record tally of 121 strikes for the club.

It was the first time Gattuso’s side had kept a clean sheet in the league under his guidance in his ninth game in charge, and the result leaves Napoli eighth on 33 points, one ahead of 11th-placed Cagliari.