Inter Milan defeated Lazio 2-1 to keep their lead in the Serie A title race on Sunday, while Juventus registered a thrilling 4-3 comeback win against Roma.
Inter kicked off 2022 in the best possible way, as the team racked up an eighth league win on the bounce to keep up the sterling vein of form which characterised the end of the previous calendar year by putting Lazio to the sword in a 2-1 success at San Siro.
The deadlock was broken at the Meazza by Alessandro Bastoni, who turned provider for Milan Skriniar in the second half to restore Inter's lead after Ciro Immobile had drawn the visitors level.
"We wanted to kick off the year with a victory. It wasn't easy because Lazio have quality and they have a good set-up on the pitch," explained Simone Inzaghi after the game. "We deserved the win. I'm pleased with the lads. Now the Italian Super Cup awaits on Wednesday. It's a final in which we want to play as well as we can at our home ground.
Elsewhere in the capital, the second half at the Stadio Olimpico resembled a boxing match based on the speed with which the two sides kept striking each other down and getting back up.
After Tammy Abraham and Paulo Dybala got on the scoresheet in the first half, Roma raced into a 3-1 lead within five minutes of the restart through goals by Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Lorenzo Pellegrini, only for Juve to respond in style with Manuel Locatelli, Dejan Kulusevski and Mattia De Sciglio bagging a trio of goals in just seven second-half minutes.
That was not the end of the drama, however, as Wojciech Szczesny turned hero late on by saving a penalty to secure all three points.
( With inputs from ANI )
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