Serie A: Lazio wins at Monza to move clear of Inter

Maurizio Sarri’s Lazio seized the opportunity to strengthen its grip on second place ahead of Inter, which lost at home to Fiorentina to stay third on 50 points.

Lazio’s Sergej Milinkovic-Savic celebrates scoring his team’s second goal with Alessio Romagnoli during the 2-0 Serie A win over Monza on Sunday.

Goals from Pedro and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic earned Lazio a 2-0 win at Monza on Sunday to lift it five points clear of Inter Milan in the Serie A standings.

Maurizio Sarri’s side seized the opportunity to strengthen its grip on second place ahead of Inter, which lost at home to Fiorentina to stay third on 50 points. Napoli is 16 points clear at the top.

“We have three important points in a race that is still very long,” Sarri said.

“There are 30 points up for grabs, we were able to catch up on the others in a short period and the reverse can easily happen too.”

Pedro scored the opener 12 minutes into the game, taking advantage of poor defending from the home side to find space in the centre of the box and effortlessly slot home.

“Monza are a good team, but I think we did a good job and ended up with a good victory,” Pedro told reporters. “Now we are good in the standings, there are 10 games left but we must continue like this”

Lazio doubled its lead in the 56th minute with a superb free kick from Milinkovic-Savic that went into the top left corner, beyond the reach of keeper Michele Di Gregorio.

The Serbian international became the top-scoring foreigner in Lazio’s history, reaching 65 goals since joining the club in 2015.

“Finally, I managed to score and I really missed that feeling. There has been a lot of criticism, now this goal will give me a big hand,” Milinkovic-Savic, who scored for the first time since January, told DAZN.

“These are three big points for us, as we are still in second place for a while longer.”

Lazio hosts Juventus on Saturday while 13th-placed Monza faces Udinese.