Lazio beat Brescia to go third

Lazio record their first away victory in Italy’s Serie A since October to keep slim title hopes alive.

Libor Kozak
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Lazio’s forward Alvaro Gonzalez celebrates his goal – or calls his agent [AFP]

Goals from Alvaro Gonzalez and Libor Kozak kept Lazio in touch of next year’s Champions League spots with a 2-0 win at lowly Brescia on Sunday in Italy’s Serie A.

Gonzalez scored an early goal in the 17th and Libor Kozak added another in the 58th to earn the Rome team a comfortable win that leaves them only seven points behind league leaders AC Milan who thumped Parma 4-0 on Saturday.

“We haven’t had a particularly good time recently,” Lazio coach Edy Reja said.

“We haven’t won away for quite some time, but we had a good game today.”

In the late game, a first-half goal from new signing Alessandro Matri gave Juventus a 1-0 home victory over champions Inter Milan.

The striker was on target with a downward header in the 30th minute as Juventus dominated lacklustre Inter, handing Leonardo his second defeat since taking over as coach from Rafa Benitez in December.

Vital win

Gonzalez gave Lazio the lead when he headed in Stephan Lichtsteiner’s cross at the near post.

He nearly doubled his tally 10 minutes later but Brescia goalkeeper Michele Arcari got down low to push the shot away for a corner after Gonzalez raced behind Brescia’s defence.

Lazio grabbed a second after the interval when Kozak got up highest to head in Cristian Ledesma’s corner.

Alessandro Diamanti was Brescia’s main attacking threat and he nearly grabbed a consolation goal in injury time when his free kick hit the bar.

Elsewhere Sampdoria struck three times in the first 15 minutes thanks to Angelo Palombo, Daniele Gastaldello and new signing Massimo Maccarone as they moved up to 12th with a 3-1 win over Bologna.

Nene bagged a double to inspire ninth-placed Cagliari to a 4-1 home victory over Chievo Verona.

Serie A results

Saturday February 12

undefined AC Milan 4-0 Parma
undefined Roma 0-2 Napoli

Sunday February 13

undefined Palermo 2-4 Fiorentina
undefined Bari 0-0 Genoa
undefined Brescia 0-2 Lazio
undefined Cagliari 4-1 Chievo
undefined Catania 3-2 Lecce
undefined Cesena 0-3 Udinese
undefined Sampdoria 3-1 Bologna
undefined Juventus 1-0 Inter Milan

In the battle to move away from the drop zone, a late double from Francesco Lodi helped Catania come from behind to defeat Lecce 3-2.

Comeback

Fiorentina twice came from behind to earn their first away win in over a year with a 4-2 victory at Palermo.

Palermo, in sixth position, led 2-1 but were undone by three efforts in the last 20 minutes from Michele Camporese, Cesare Bovo (own goal) and Riccardo Montolivo.

“Finally we were able to call up our best players, those who can score and set up goals,” Fiorentina coach Sinisa Mihajlovic said.

“Until now we haven’t had them available and we suffered because of that. Today we didn’t stop trying to play good football.”

Udinese continued their good form with a 3-0 triumph at struggling Cesena, Antonio Di Natale grabbing his 17th and 18th goals of the season and Gokhan Inler also on target. 

Juventus rose to sixth place. Inter, who play their game in hand against Fiorentina on Wednesday, are fourth, eight points behind leaders AC Milan who defeated Parma 4-0 at the San Siro on Saturday.

Source: News Agencies