Milinkovic’s goals show why he’s a hot target
Sergej Milinkovic-Savic showed just why some of Europe’s top clubs are after him with two goals as Lazio strolled to a 3-0 win at Sassuolo in Serie A yesterday.
The league’s leading scorer Ciro Immobile also netted a penalty as Lazio moved up to third, a point above Inter Milan and two above Roma, who lost to 2-0 to AC Milan.
Before the match, Lazio’s sporting director Igli Tare had confirmed the club had rejected a 70 million ($117.76m) bid for Milinkovic-Savic, with Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain among the clubs reportedly interested in the Serbia midfielder, 23.
“Milinkovic is a really talented player,” Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi said after the victory. “He’s still very young and has so much desire to improve himself, I think he has a great future ahead of him.”
It took Milinkovic-Savic less than seven minutes to score, curling a magnificent strike into the far corner from outside the area with the help of a slight deflection.
There was controversy on the half hour when Alessandro Murgia’s pass struck Federico Peluso’s hand.
The referee had let play run on but on review awarded a penalty although it was doubtful whether the handball was intentional.
Immobile struck the spot kick low to the right for his 23rd league goal of the season.
Milinkovic-Savic doubled his tally two minutes into the second half.
Both sides were reduced to 10 men when Sassuolo forward Domenico Berardi received a straight red in the 54th for a reckless challenge on Stefan Radu and Lazio midfielder Adam Marusic was sent off for elbowing Rogerio in the face.
The win will be a boost for Lazio ahead of a crucial period for the capital side that sees them play Milan in the second leg of their Italian Cup semifinal, host Juventus in Serie A and entertain Dynamo Kiev in the Europa League last 16.
Spal boosted their hopes of Serie A survival with a vital 3-2 win in a relegation battle at Crotone, but stay 18th in the 20-team league.
Atletico Madrid are making it clear they won’t let up in their pursuit of Spanish league leader Barcelona.
They routed Sevilla 5-2 with a hat trick by Antoine Griezmann in Seville.
Diego Costa and Koke also scored for Atletico as Sevilla gave away three goals on individual blunders.
Atletico are now seven points be- hind Barcelona, which beat Girona 6-1. Third-place Real Madrid, which defeated Alaves 4-0, are seven points behind Atletico.
Sevilla dropped to sixth place, 10 points behind four-place Valencia in the last qualification spot for the Champions League.
It was Atletico’s seventh win in a row since being eliminated by Sevilla in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals.
Valencia held the last Champions League spot by beating Real Sociedad 2-1, their third win in a row. They are eight points in front of Villarreal.
Cologne advanced their fight to avoid Bundesliga relegation, coming from behind to beat Leipzig 2-1 away.
Jean-Kevin Augustin scored early for Leipzig but goals from Vincent Koziello and Leonard Bittencourt secured the points. Cologne remain bottom but are now level on points with Hamburger SV, eight points from safety with 10 games remaining.
Nabil Bentaleb’s late penalty sealed a 2-0 win for Schalke at 10-man Bayer Leverkusen, lifting his team to third. — AP GERMANY