Inter Milan moved away by four points at the top of the Italian Football League with its valuable victory over its host Lazio 2-0 on Sunday at the top of the sixteenth stage, while Milan regained the tone of victories with its great victory over its guest Montsa by three clean goals.
Inter achieved the most important victory at the Olympic Stadium in the capital because Lazio was the better side for most of the match.
Argentine captain and international striker Lautaro Martinez opened the scoring from the first opportunity for the men of former Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi in the 40th minute, raising his tally to 15 goals at the top of the scorers list, and French international Marcus Thuram added the second in the visitors’ second opportunity in the 66th minute.
Inter strengthened its lead with 41 points, expanding the gap to four points over its direct chaser, Juventus, which fell into a 1-1 draw against its host Genoa on Friday at the opening of the stage, while Lazio fell to eleventh place after its score froze at 21 points.
Lazio had the advantage at the beginning of the match and almost scored with two headers from its captain and international striker Ciro Immobile in the 28th and 36th minutes, but Inter succeeded in opening the scoring through its captain Martinez when he took advantage of a grave error by Montenegrin defender Adam Marusic to return the ball to his goalkeeper Ivan Providel, so the Argentine snatched it and penetrated inside. The area was manipulated by the goalkeeper before he followed it into the goal (40).
Nicolo Rosevilla almost equalized for Lazio at the beginning of the second half with a wonderful individual effort, ending it with a shot from inside the area that the goalkeeper turned away for a corner (47).
But Thuram dealt the final blow to the home team by adding the second goal with a powerful shot from his left foot from inside the area following a pass from Nicolo Barella (66).
It is Thuram’s seventh goal in the league this season.
Lazio’s misfortunes increased when its midfielder, Manuel Lazzari, was sent off in the 87th minute.
– Milan regains balance –
At the San Siro Stadium in Milan, it seems that the victory achieved by Milan in the middle of the week away from home over Newcastle United (2-1) at the end of its campaign in the Champions League gave it a moral boost locally, with its great victory over its guest Montsa 3-0.
With its tenth victory this season and the third out of three league matches it has had so far with its Lombard neighbor Montsa, coach Stefano Pioli’s team regained its balance after losing in the last stage to Atalanta 2-3 in the fatal time.
Milan raised its score to 32 points in third place, five points behind its second-place rival Juventus, which stumbled on Friday against Genoa (1-1), and the same against Napoli, the defending champion, who won on Saturday over Cagliari 2-1.
Pioli’s men entered the match after their victory in the middle of the week at Newcastle, without that being enough to qualify for the Champions League quarter-finals due to the difference in the two direct confrontations with France’s Paris Saint-Germain, but they will continue the continental journey in the “Europa League” competition, where they will compete in the quarter-finals. .
Milan struck early by taking the lead after less than three minutes with a wonderful goal by Dutchman Tijani Reynders, who manipulated five players before putting the ball out of the reach of goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio, scoring his second goal for his new team.
The Dutchman told the Italian network Sky Sports about his first goal at San Siro: “I felt very happy. It is an honor to play here. Scoring my first goal at San Siro is very nice.”
– “We must always believe” –
He believed that his team must continue to believe in its chances of winning the title, saying, “Of course, we must always believe. We have not even reached the middle of the season. We must continue in the same vein, and this was a good start.”
Pioli was forced to make an emergency substitution after only 24 minutes due to the injury of Tommaso Pobega, who left his place in midfield to 18-year-old Serbian Jan-Carlo Simic, who, after Di Gregorio’s brilliance in blocking two attempts by Alessandro Florentzi, gave the hosts the second goal in the 40th minute after a pass. From Portuguese Rafael Leao, making the best possible start with the first team.
At the age of 18 years and 229 days, Simic became the third youngest scorer for Milan since the adoption of three points to win the 1994-1995 season, behind Alberto Paloski, who was 17 years, 11 months, and 16 days old when he scored in December 2007, and the Brazilian Alexandre Pato, who was 18 years and 4 months old. And 11 days when it was recorded in January 2008.
Gianni Rivera remains the absolute record holder for the youngest scorer in Milan’s history. He was 17 years, two months and 19 days old when he scored in the league against Juventus (4-3) on November 6, 1960.
Milan was close to ending the first half with a third goal, but luck was against American Christian Pulisic after his attempt bounced off the crossbar (44).
The second half began with an opportunity for Montsa, but French goalkeeper Mike Maignan shone in the face of Andrea Colbani (61), then Milan dealt the final blow to its guest with a third goal scored by the other Swiss substitute, Noah Okafor, after a pass from Frenchman Olivier Giroud (76).
But the 23-year-old’s joy was not complete, as he was injured and had to give his place to Nigerian Samuel Chukwueze (80).
Roma continued to lose points by losing to its host Bologna with two clean goals scored by Croatian Nicola Moro (37) and Danish Rasmus Christensen (49 fouls against his team).
Roma, which fell into a 1-1 draw against Fiorentina in the last stage, failed to regain fifth place from Napoli, falling to seventh place, while Bologna regained fourth place with 28 points.
Fiorentina took advantage of Roma’s stumble and rose to sixth place by defeating its guest, Verona, 1-0, scored by Argentine Lucas Beltran (79).
Bosnian Milan Djuric missed a penalty kick for the visitors in the third minute.
Udinese missed out on a possible win over its guest, Sassuolo, and left with a 2-2 draw.
Udinese advanced with two goals from Lorenzo Luca (36) and Argentine Roberto Pereira (55), but the turning point was the expulsion of its Argentine midfielder Martin Bayero in the 59th minute, as Sassuolo took advantage of the numerical disadvantage and scored two goals with its international top scorer Domenico Berardi (75 and 88 from two penalty kicks).
2023-12-17 22:15:47
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