Rome: Serie A leaders Atalanta are hot on the heels of Inter Milan demolishing one of the division’s form teams with a 6-0 thrashing of Lazio in Rome on Monday.
Reigning champions Inter faced a tough test at the Stadio Olimpico with flying colors and are three points off Scudetto pace with the game in hand.
Hakan Calhanoglu, Federico DiMarco, Niccolò Barella and Denzel Dumfries scored either side of half-time before the away side shared the points before Carlos Augusto and Marcus Thuram completed the rout with two late strikes.
An unexpectedly heavy defeat for Lazio, who came into Monday’s game on the back of fine away wins at Napoli and Ajax, left them fifth and six points behind Atalanta.
It damaged any thoughts of Lazio being a dark horse for a first league title in a quarter of a century as Marco Baroni’s side collapsed once Calhanoglu headed home the penalty that opened the scoring in the 41st minute.
A spot-kick was awarded for a Samuel Gigot handball following a VAR check, leaving Lazio fuming after Inter conceded a goal for offside in the same penalty box clash.
And the hosts, who had been the better side in the opening half hour, were punished for sloppy defending when DiMarco slotted home a brilliant second after four minutes, sneaking unmarked at the back post to meet Dumfries’ pinpoint cross.
Any hope of a second-half fightback ended when Barella crashed home his third goal of the season from distance in the 51st minute and Dumfries capitalized on a more vulnerable Lazio defense with a bullet header two minutes later.
Then, in the 77th minute, Carlos Augusto skillfully controlled DiMarco’s pass on Adam Marusic’s spin and became the third Inter wing back to score in the fifth minute.
Thuram’s brilliant individual strike was not only a slap in the face for Lazio, it also put Inter Serie A top scorers ahead of Atalanta and firmly showed that they will not let their title go easily.