Joaquin Correa on Monday ensured that SS Lazio kept their hopes of UEFA Champions League qualification alive with a double in a 3-0 win over AC Milan, while SSC Napoli jumped up to third thanks to a 2-0 triumph at Torino.
Correa opened the scoring for Lazio with only a minute on the clock at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome and added the second five minutes after the break.
Ciro Immobile struck the third with three minutes left, as Lazio moved five points off the Champions League spots with a game in hand on their rivals.
Photo: Reuters
“This was like a final for us, the last chance to stay in with a shout for the top four... It was a clear and dominant victory,” Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi told Sky Sport Italia.
Inzaghi’s side sit sixth, behind AC Milan, who are level on 66 points with Napoli and Juventus — third and fourth respectively — but have dropped down to fifth after their second straight league defeat.
They are 13 points behind leaders Inter, who can win their first league title since 2009-2010 on Saturday if they beat Crotone and second-placed Atalanta BC fail to win at US Sassuolo on Sunday.
Stefano Pioli’s Milan, who started the weekend in second place, could have been beaten by a larger margin as Manuel Lazzari was denied a goal just before the break by the tightest of offside calls by the video assistant referee (VAR), and Italy forward Immobile struck the post seven minutes before he scored his 18th league goal of the campaign.
However, Pioli was left frustrated by Correa’s second, which was given after a lengthy VAR check, following what he felt was a foul from Lucas Leiva on Hakan Calhanoglu.
“I don’t understand how it wasn’t given as a foul on Calhanoglu,” Pioli said. “He looked at it again and from the replay you cannot say Leiva doesn’t catch Calhanoglu and completely miss the ball.”
Napoli moved into third thanks to first-half goals from Tiemoue Bakayoko and Victor Osimhen earlier on Monday.
They had other opportunities, but Piotr Zielinski hit the post and Matteo Politano was unlucky to see his deflected shot slide wide.
Lorenzo Insigne, playing his 300th Serie A match for Napoli, also hit the upright.
They failed to add to their tally, but ran out winners to put pressure on their rivals.
Meanwhile, Torino are staring at the prospect of relegation following the defeat, which leaves them hovering above the drop zone.
They sit 16th, level on 31 points with Benevento, who occupy the final relegation spot, and 17th-placed Cagliari, who boosted their chances of survival with a 3-2 win over AS Roma on Sunday.
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