Lazio notch 2-0 victory to prevent Napoli from sealing Serie A title

ROME: Lazio kept Napoli from sealing the Serie A title for at least another day by beating Sassuolo 2-0 on Wednesday.

The result means that Napoli need a point at Udinese on Thursday to win their first Italian league title since Diego Maradona led the club to their only two championships in 1987 and 1990.

Felipe Anderson put Lazio ahead early with one touch following a ball over the top from Marcos Antonio and then Toma Basic doubled the Roman club’s advantage in stoppage time by finishing off a counterattack.

Lazio moved within 15 points of runaway leaders Napoli and back into second place ahead of Juventus, who beat Lecce 2-1 earlier.

Relegation-threatened Cremonese held Champions League semifinalist AC Milan 1-1 at the San Siro, where Junior Messias scored a late equalizer for the Rossoneri after David Okereke had put the visitors ahead.

Inter Milan, who will face Milan in the Champions League semifinals, routed relegation-threatened Hellas Verona 6-0 with braces from Edin Dzeko and Lautaro Martinez.

Also, Roma were held to a 1-1 draw at Silvio Berlusconi’s Monza.

Stephan El Shaarawy put Roma ahead early following a goalkeeping blunder but Luca Caldirola equalized for Monza before the break with a difficult volley following a free kick.

Dusan Vlahovic ended a long scoring drought with the decisive goal and Juventus ended a five-match winless streak across all competitions with their victory over visiting Lecce.

Vlahovic scored before the break to end a run of 773 minutes without a goal in the Italian league. And the Serbia international did it in style, using a half-volley from the edge of the area to find the target.

Leandro Paredes had given Juventus an early lead with a free kick around Lecce’s wall