Lazio deny Fiorentina chance to climb atop Serie A

By foxsports
Published

Fiorentina missed the chance to go top of Serie A as Lazio battled to a 3-1 win at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, where there was a late flurry of stoppage-time goals. The Viola went into Saturday's match only a point off leaders Inter Milan, who host Sassuolo on Sunday, and ahead of Napoli on goal difference.

However, aspirations of being crowned Campione d'Inverno at the half-way stage of the campaign failed to materialise as Lazio marked the club's 116th anniversary with only a second league win in 10 games. Keita's late first-half goal looked to have been enough for a hard-earned victory for the visitors, before Sergej Milinkovic-Savic - who could have signed for Fiorentina in summer - made it 2-0 at the start of six minutes of added time.

Viola defender Facundo Roncaglia immediately reduced the deficit when a speculative long-range effort squirmed under Lazio keeper Etrit Berisha, before substitute Felipe Anderson - a reported Manchester United target - then swept home a third on the break for the Biancocelesti. After a promising start from the home side, it was Lazio - defending an impressive away record in Florence - who grew in confidence as Milinkovic-Savic's looping header was cleared off the line, before Keita netted with a low, 18-yard drive in first-half stoppage time.

There was a delay midway through the second half after Fiorentina midfielder Milan Badelj fell awkwardly and had to be carried off on a stretcher. Fiorentina defender Marcos Alonso's header was cleared from under the crossbar and Giuseppe Rossi was twice denied by Albanian stopper Berisha before the stoppage-time goal spree.

CARPI 2, UDINESE 1

Carpi continued their recent improvement with a 2-1 win over Udinese.

The hosts started the day second bottom of the table, but with three wins from the last seven games and awaiting a Coppa Italia quarter-final at AC Milan. Carpi, last season's Serie B champions, went ahead on 26 minutes through Lorenzo Pasciuti's header, which meant the midfielder became the first player to score a goal for the same club in all five divisions.

Lorenzo Lollo made it 2-0 on 70 minutes. Udinese quickly got themselves back into the match when Duvan Zapata scored on the break, and later Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu hit the post but it stayed 2-1.