SS Lazio bounced back from two debilitating losses to beat SSC Napoli 4-2 on Sunday and secure a spot in the UEFA Champions League playoffs on the final day of the Serie A season.
Lazio finished third, five points ahead of ACF Fiorentina and six ahead of Napoli, qualifying for the final playoff round of the lucrative European competition in August.
Substitute Eddy Onazi scored the winner five minutes from time after both sides were reduced to 10 men.
Photo: Reuters
Marco Parolo and Antonio Candreva gave Lazio a 2-0 lead at halftime, but Gonzalo Higuain scored twice early in the second half to draw Napoli level.
Napoli would have finished third with a win and the southern club had their chance, but Higuain sent a penalty-kick high in the 76th minute.
Miroslav Klose added a headed goal for Lazio in stoppage-time.
Photo: AFP
Lazio lost the Coppa Italia final to Juventus 2-1 after extra-time and then were beaten by city rivals AS Roma by the same score in a heated derby on Monday last week.
“This is a huge accomplishment,” Candreva said. “When Higuain’s penalty was called I thought we were out [of the Champions League], but it went how it went and now third place is a huge prize.”
“After the derby loss we were a bit down and disappointed, but we put together a great performance in a tough stadium against very strong opponents,” he said.
Napoli coach Rafael Benitez announced on Friday last week that it would be his last match with the club. He leaves on a sour note, amid speculation that he would soon be announced as Carlo Ancelotti’s replacement at Real Madrid.
Juventus clinched their fourth straight title weeks ago and Roma secured second place with the Rome derby victory.
Roma finished 17 points behind Juventus and one ahead of Lazio after getting beaten 2-1 at home by US Citta di Palermo in their final match, which was mostly meaningless.
Franco Vazquez put Palermo ahead with a first-half penalty, Roma’s 38-year-old captain Francesco Totti equalized in the 85th minute and Andrea Belotti scored the winner for Palermo in stoppage-time.
Fiorentina moved ahead of Napoli with a 3-0 win over 10-man AC Chievo Verona, with goals from Josip Ilicic, Federico Bernardeschi and Milan Badelj.
Maurco Icardi scored twice and also had an assist in Inter’s 4-3 win over Empoli to finish joint top scorer with Hellas Verona’s Luca Toni — with 22 goals each, two more than Juve’s Carlos Tevez.
Toni, who turned 38 on Tuesday last week, became the oldest capocannoniere in Serie A history. Dario Hubner, who was joint top scorer with David Trezeguet at the age of 35 in 2001-2002, was the previous oldest leader.
“Achieving this at my age is something special,” 22-year-old Icardi said.
Also on Sunday, UC Sampdoria drew 2-2 with Parma, US Sassuolo defeated Genoa 3-1, Torino thrashed AC Cesena 5-0 and Cagliari edged Udinese 4-3.
The next Serie A season is scheduled to start on Aug. 22.
At a packed Stadio San Paolo, Napoli took the initiative at the start and were unfortunate when Jose Callejon slipped through the defense only to see his effort go just wide.
Parolo put Lazio ahead with a long-range shot that deflected slightly off a defender in the 33rd minute, although Napoli goalkeeper Mariano Andujar could have done better.
In first-half stoppage-time, Candreva got past the defense and slotted a shot past Andujar from the edge of the penalty area.
Higuain pulled one back by tapping in a cross from Callejon in the 55th minute and then Dries Mertens nearly equalized two minutes later when defender Stefan de Vrij cleared his shot off the line.
Parolo picked up his second yellow in the 62nd minute for a late tackle on David Lopez and Higuain equalized two minutes later after taking a pass from Mertens inside the area.
Napoli fullback Faouzi Ghoulam was shown his second yellow in the 70th minute and the match appeared to take another wild turn when Senad Lulic tripped Christian Maggio on the edge of the area, resulting in a penalty for Napoli.
Lazio protested that the foul occurred outside the area, but Higuain soon stepped up to the spot and blasted his shot well over the bar, setting off Lazio celebrations.
One minute after replacing Danilo Cataldi, Onazi scored the winner after Maggio’s attempt to strip Cristian Ledesma on a counterattack resulted in a perfect pass for Onazi and the Nigeria midfielder calmly found the target.
With Napoli having virtually given up, Klose — who also came on in the second half — headed in a free-kick from Ledesma to seal it.
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