Romelu Lukaku scored twice and took his tally to 300 career goals as Inter Milan moved top of Serie A with a 3-1 win over Lazio on Sunday.
The former Manchester United player scored a penalty, and doubled his tally at the end of the first half with the landmark goal. He also set up Lautaro Martínez for Inter’s third, shortly after Gonzalo Escalante had given Lazio hope.
“Romelu struggled a bit lately but it’s normal to have dips in form,” Inter coach Antonio Conte said. “We need this type of Romelu, he’s back to his usual standards.”
Inter struggled out a point above AC Milan, which lost woefully to almost bottom placed Spezia on Saturday. The two teams will meet in the Milan Derby by next Sunday.
“This has to be a starting point for us . . . otherwise all the work that we are doing will have been in vain,” Conte said. “Going into the Derby in first place is much better. It will be a good match between two teams with great ambitions.”
Lazio is seventh, 10 points below Inter.
Coming into the match, Inter knew it could take a confidence-boosting step in the title race but Lazio was on a run of six straight wins.
Both sides had chances before Inter was awarded a penalty for a bad tackle by Wesley Hoedt on Martínez. Lazio protested fiercely but to no avail and Lukaku struck the spot kick into the bottom left corner.
The 27-year-old Belgian doubled his tally with another controversial moment on the stroke of halftime, slotting in after Marcelo Brozović’s interception was deflected into his path by a Lazio player. The goal was initially ruled out for offside but awarded on video review.
That was Lukaku’s 300th goal, between club and country.
Lazio briefly “threatened” a comeback when Escalante deflected in Sergej Milinković-Savić’s free kick in the 61st but Inter restored its two-goal advantage just three minutes later. Lukaku burst down the right, holding off a defender as he raced from inside his own half into the penalty area before rolling across for Martínez to tap into an empty net.
Ifesinachi Nnabugwu reporting, Obinwannem News
