Inter lose cool in first defeat of title defence at Lazio

MILAN: Reigning champions Inter Milan suffered their first Serie A defeat of the season and caused a long delay ater being angered by a Felipe Anderson goal as they lost 3-1 to Lazio on Saturday.

Anderson tapped home a rebound in the 81st minute to put the hosts 2-1 ahead at the Stadio Olimpico, with the Inter players furious that Lazio had not stopped play due to Federico Dimarco being down injured.

But Lazio were under no obligation to stop and Dimarco had hit the floor before Inter continued atacking themselves.

Five yellow cards were dished out in the atermath as the away side’s protests stopped play for several minutes, with visiting full-back Denzel Dumfries perhaps lucky to only be booked.

It was a miserable return to the capital for away coach Simone Inzaghi, who let Lazio in the close-season to replace Antonio Conte at Inter.

His Lazio replacement, Maurizio Sarri, has oten been criticised in the early weeks of the campaign, but the three points take his new team into fith place.

Inter remain third and could slip seven points behind pace-seters Napoli when they put their 100-percent record on the line against Torino on Sunday.

In Rome, Inter made the breakthrough in the 20th minute as Albanian full-back Elseid Hysaj clipped Nicolo Barella and Ivan Perisic stepped up to score for the second time this season.

Lazio responded well and almost turned their dominance of possession into an equaliser, but Toma Basic was denied by Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic.

The visitors retained a serious threat going forward, though, with Italy midfielder Barella curling over and Perisic forcing Pepe Reina into a fine save from his fierce let-footed strike before half-time.