Lazio avenges cup defeat by beating Atalanta 3-1 in league
MILAN (AP) — Lazio avenged its Italian Cup defeat by winning 3-1 at Atalanta in Serie A on Sunday.
Adam Marušic, Joaquín Correa and substitute Vedat Muriqi scored for Lazio. Atalanta had threatened a comeback when Mario Pašalic briefly made it 2-1.
Lazio moved a point above Atalanta into sixth place. It is level on points with fourth-place Napoli, which beat relegation-threatened Parma 2-0. Roma is also level on points and will be looking to move into the top four when it hosts Hellas Verona later.
It was the second time in a week that Lazio had traveled to Bergamo, following Atalanta’s 3-2 victory on Wednesday in the cup quarterfinals.
Marušic got Lazio off to a perfect start when he curled in a swerving strike in the third minute.
Atalanta goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini managed to tip Sergej Milinkovic-Savic’s header onto the post but Lazio doubled its lead six minutes into the second half.
Ciro Immobile flicked on a long ball for Correa to spring the offside trap, round Gollini and deposit into an empty net.
Later, Immobile thought he got on the scoresheet himself but his goal was ruled out for offside.
Atalanta got back into the match 11 minutes from time following a moment of magic by Luis Muriel, whose shot came off the right post but Pašalic was there to tap in the rebound.
However, Muriqi restored Lazio’s two-goal advantage three minutes later, firing into an empty net after being unselfishly set up by Andreas Pereira.
CLINICAL NAPOLI
Napoli could have scored more as it dominated Parma. Eljif Elmas broke the deadlock in the 32nd with a delightful solo effort, skipping past several Parma players before slotting past Luigi Sepe.
Substitute Matteo Politano sealed the match eight minutes from time when his effort was deflected in by Yordan Osorio.
Napoli also hit the post twice late on through Tiémoué Bakayoko and Lorenzo Insigne.
Parma remained two points from safety.
GENOA REVIVAL
Genoa’s revival continued as it won 3-0 at bottom club Crotone to inch further away from the relegation zone.
Mattia Destro scored twice and Lennart Czyborra netted Genoa’s second.
Genoa has now lost only one of its past seven league matches, winning three of its past four to move six points above the drop zone. Crotone is three points from safety.