Lukaku brace at Bologna fire Inter to the fore

ROME: Romelu Lukaku continued his red-hot scoring form to shoot Inter Milan top of Serie A with a brace in a late 2-1 win at Bologna, while Roma moved up to third with an enthralling win by the same scoreline over wobbling Napoli.

Lukaku tapped home his eighth goal of the season 15 minutes before the end to cancel out Roberto Soriano’s deflected opener before slotting home a stoppage time penalty to send Antonio Conte’s side two points ahead of Juventus.

He becomes the first player since Ronaldo in 1997/98 to score at least nine goals in his first 11 Serie A matches as an Inter player.

“It was a very important penalty, as we simply had to win today,” Lukaku told Sky Sport.

“I’m pleased to have had such a good start, but I am 26 years old and I need to grow every day, along with the whole team.”

Inter have been tipped as the principal challengers for Juve’s Serie A title but had to be saved from a lacklustre display by their star summer signing.

Inter are also six points ahead of Roma, who moved third in Serie A on Saturday after their win over Napoli that took them to within four of Juve.

Rising star Nicolo Zaniolo opened the scoring midway through the first half with his fourth goal in as many games in all competitions before Jordan Veretout sealed the points from the penalty spot 10 minutes after the break and stretched Roma’s unbeaten league run to six games.

“We are really happy with the victory, it was a head-to-head we needed to win and we did. We’ve always said that we are a team with great talent and we are back on form after losing our way a bit last season,” Zaniolo told Sky

Sport.

“I’m very pleased with my current form, I hope to continue like this and to score many more goals.”

Arkadiusz Milik’s fifth goal in four games closed the gap for Napoli, but the defeat sees them drop down to seventh, level on 18 points with Lazio and Cagliari and eight behind Juve after winning just one of their last five in Serie A.

Paulo Fonseca’s Roma meanwhile are on a fine recent run despite an injury crisis that kept a host of first team starters out of action over the last few weeks.