ROME - The new year started on the wrong foot for Inter as they slipped to defeat at the hands of Lazio in the Stadio Olimpico tonight. Klose struck gold for the hosts with a splendidly taken volley in the 81st minute.
Walter Mazzarri started with his favoured three-man system defensive system, Ranocchia, Rolando and Juan Jesus lining up in front of Handanovic, and five across the middle: Jonathan, Alvarez, Cambiasso, Kuzmanovic and Nagatomo. Palacio led the line once again with Guarin in support.
After a slow start, the first decent chance fell to Lazio in the 11th minute: Jonathan and Ranocchia struggled to clear their lines and Handanovic had to rush out to disturb Lulic, the wideman's lob fortunately dropping wide of the far post.
Guarin was then brought down by Dias as he charged towards goal but the Lazio man was only shown a yellow. Alvarez curled the resulting free kick just over.
Handanovic reacted smartly once again to deny Klose with a low stop on 25 minutes, before Dias was let off for a nasty foul on Guarin when a second yellow might well have been given.
Candreva's effort from the edge of the box was parried by Handanovic before time was called on the first 45 minutes.
Ten minutes after the restart, Palacio was agonisingly close to pulling the trigger in front of Berisha following a delightful through ball from Guarin but Biava performed a perfectly timed interception to clear the danger.
Inter finally took a grip on the game at this stage - aggressive in attack and alert at the back - while Juan Jesus made up for earlier errors with some fantastic defensive work.
Milito came on to a roar from the travelling Nerazzurri faithful but it was another veteran striker who settled the encounter. Klose slipped away from Ranocchia and latched onto Candreva's delivery to hit a magnificent volley on the spin past Handanovic's despairing dive.
With Inter piling forward seeking an equaliser, the German frontman almost made it 2-0 in the dying seconds, but Juan Jesus slid in with a last-ditch tackle.
Lazio 1-0 Inter (HT: 0-0)
Scorer: Klose 81.
Lazio: 1 Berisha; 3 Dias, 8 Hernanes, 11 Klose, 15 Gonzalez (Onazi 62), 19 Lulic, 20 Biava, 24 Ledesma, 26 Radu, 29 Konko (Cavanda 15), 87 Candreva (Ederson 88).
Subs not used: 55 Guerrieri, 95 Strakosha, 2 Ciani, 5 Biglia, 7 Felipe Anderson, 14 Keita, 27 Cana, 85 Novaretti, 99 Floccari.
Coach: Edy Reja.
Inter: 1 Handanovic; 23 Ranocchia (Zanetti 83), 35 Rolando, 5 Juan Jesus; 2 Jonathan, 11 Alvarez, 19 Cambiasso, 17 Kuzmanovic (Kovacic 60), 55 Nagatomo; 13 Guarin (Milito 75); 8 Palacio.
Subs not used: 30 Carrizo, 12 Castellazzi, 6 Andreolli, 7 Belfodil, 9 Icardi, 16 Mudingayi, 18 Wallace, 25 Samuel, 31 Pereira.
Coach: Walter Mazzarri.
Referee: Damato
.
Booked: Dias 21, Guarin 36, Radu 36, Alvarez 39, Ledesma 87.
Added time: 2+3 minutes.
Versión Española 日本語版 Versi Bahasa Indonesia Versione Italiana
