ROME - Inter came up short at the Stadio Olimpico and saw their faint hopes of Champions League qualification vanish, although wins for Napoli and Udinese would have made it impossible anyway. Lazio's 3-1 victory leaves the Nerazzurri in sixth place on 58 points and Inter will now face Europa League qualifiers on 2 and 9 August. Milito's conversion from the spot had put Inter in front at half time but Lazio turned the tables after the restart with strikes from Kozak and Candreva before Mauri added a third in injury time.
FIRST HALF – Against a
Lazio side missing star striker Klose, Stramaccioni fielded a
five-man midfield (Guarin, Cambiasso and Poli in the centre, Zanetti
and Alvarez wide) with Milito operating as a lone striker.
Castellazzi stood in for the suspended Julio Cesar while the back
four was made up of Maicon, Lucio, Samuel and Nagatomo.
The game was three minutes old when Samuel made a decisive intervention to block Mauri's shot from a decent position. Inter's hopes of climbing into third place depended on results elsewhere - namely Udinese losing to Catania and Napoli not beating Siena at the Stadio San Paolo - and at 20:52 Napoli took the lead. Destro levelled for Siena two minutes later while back at the Olimpico Inter were starting to look dangerous: first Nagatomo's cross was deflected away by Biava then Alvarez was closed down on the break. At 21:07 the news that neither side in Rome wanted to hear filtered through: Di Natale had put Udinese in front. Soon afterwards Samuel came to the rescue with another great block, this time to thwart Candreva. In the 25th minute Maicon picked out Milito and looked to latch onto the return pass before going down in the box following contact with Ledesma: the referee waved play on. Two minutes later Guarin unleashed a fierce left-footed drive from some distance forcing Bizzarri to fly through the air and tip over the bar. On 29 minutes the Lazio keeper frustrated Guarin again – this time just yards from goal. At 21:22 Napoli restored their lead (2-1) while Milito almost broke the deadlock at the Olimpico when he got on the end of Maicon's ball, nodding just the wrong side of the post. The Prince had another chance a minute later but couldn't keep his shot down. On 44 minutes the referee pointed to the spot after Ledesma fouled Maicon. Milito stepped up and made no mistake to equal his best ever haul of 24 league goals in a season. A minute of stoppage time was played and the first half ended with Inter a goal to the good.
SECOND HALF – The second period got under way with no changes made. Alvarez charged down the wing in the 53rd minute but couldn't wrap his foot around the ball properly and his cross ended on the top side of the net. Castellazzi did well after 57 minutes to smother Ledesma's powerful strike and again showed great reflexes minutes later to keep out Candreva's effort. Yet there was little he could do on the hour mark as Kozak rose to head home from a corner. That was instantly followed by more bad news: Udinese were two-nil up in Sicily. Within a matter of minutes Lazio had completed the comeback after Lulic's mazy run and pullback provided Candreva with the chance to fire home. The Nerazzurri tried not to lose heart and kept playing at a high tempo, Lucio powering a shot over the bar from the far post following a corner in the 73rd minute. Primavera forward Samuele Longo came on for his Serie A debut as Stramaccioni threw caution to the wind with three strikers (Pazzini having previously replaced Alvarez). Inter remained on the attack and Bizzarri kept out a typically ferocious drive from Maicon on 81 minutes. A minute later Zanetti got down to the byline and crossed into the six-yard box for Pazzini; Biava got there first and turned the ball onto the post. That was as close as Inter came to an equaliser. Mauri added a third as the game entered added time and immediately afterwards Juan made his Nerazzurri debut. After 93 minutes the match ended Lazio 3-1 Inter, a result which means the Nerazzurri will be competing in the Europa League next season: they will start from the third qualifying round on 2 and 9 August.
Lazio 3-1 Inter (HT: 0-1)
Scorers: Milito 45, Kozak 59, Candreva 63, Mauri 90+1.
Lazio: 1 Bizzarri; 5 Scaloni, 21 Diakité, 20 Biava, 29
Konko; 27 Cana, 24 Ledesma; 87 Candreva (Zampa 90+2), 6 Mauri (Garrido 90+2), 19 Lulic (Gonzalez 83); 18 Kozak.
Unused subs: 16 Berardi, 28 Makinwa, 53 Rozzi, 78 Zauri.
Coach: Edoardo Reja.
Inter: 12 Castellazzi; 13 Maicon, 6 Lucio, 25 Samuel,
55 Nagatomo; 4 Zanetti, 14 Guarin, 19 Cambiasso, 18 Poli (Longo 76),
11 Alvarez (Pazzini 61); 22 Milito (Juan 90+2).
Unused subs: 21 Orlandoni, 2 Cordoba, 23 Ranocchia, 37 Faraoni.
Coach: Andrea Stramaccioni.
Referee: Antonio Damato (Barletta section).
Booked: Lulic 16, Diakité 52, Konko 79.
Added time: 1+3 minutes.
