Soccer-Inter extend Serie A lead with 2-0 win at Lazio (updated)
17/12/2023 22:47
(Adds quotes)
ROME, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Inter Milan extended their lead
at the top of Serie A to four points after goals by forwards
Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram gave them a 2-0 win at Lazio
on Sunday.
After their seventh win in the last eight league games,
Inter top the standings on 41 points from 16 games and have
stretched their lead over second-placed Juventus (37), who
missed the chance to go top when they were held to a 1-1 draw at
Genoa on Friday.
It was Inter's first victory at the Rome side's home in
Serie A since October 2018.
"As a coach it feels good to win a match like that. We
covered the pitch well, conceding only one chance to (Nicolo)
Rovella. We were a team in difficult moments," coach Simone
Inzaghi told a press conference.
"We have to continue in this way, playing as a team. The
boys have to keep challenging me every training session because
we play so much."
Lazio started on the front foot, dominating possession and
aggressively fending off Inter's attempts.
However, the visitors were gifted the opener when Lazio
defender Adam Marusic gave away the ball as he tried to pass it
backwards and Martinez latched on to it to dribble past keeper
Ivan Provedel and score from close range in the 40th minute.
The Argentine forward netted his 15th league goal of the
season, six more than Sassuolo's Domenico Berardi who is second
on the scorers' list.
Lazio pushed for an equaliser after the break and Rovella
came close to finding the net from inside the box but was denied
by goalkeeper Yann Sommer.
Thuram doubled the advantage for Inter in the 66th minute
with a low shot inside the far post after collecting a precise
pass into the box from Nicolo Barella.
The hosts finished down to 10 men after defender Manuel
Lazzari was shown a straight red card four minutes before the
end for a remark he made to the referee after Lazio were refused
a free kick.
Inter's Sommer, who has now gone 11 games without conceding,
is the first goalkeeper to collect at least 10 clean sheets in
his first 15 Serie A matches in the three-point era (since
1994-95).
No team has kept more clean sheets than Inter this season in
the big five European leagues.
Lazio, who had been unbeaten at their own ground this season
since their August defeat to Genoa (1-0), are 11th in the table
with 21 points.
(Reporting by Anita Kobylinska in Gdansk; editing by Clare
Fallon)
((anita.kobylinska@tr.com; +48 58 769 65 38;))