Lazio held off a late fightback from rock-bottom Hellas Verona to move seventh in the Serie A table with a 5-2 victory at the Stadio Olimpico this evening.
The visitors arrived in the capital having only won once all season, but they succumbed to their first defeat in six games to remain nine points adrift of safety.
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It was the home side who were the first to threaten after just 11 minutes when Alessandro Matri found space inside the penalty area, only to send his shot narrowly wide of the target.
Verona's first chance arrived midway through the opening 45 minutes, and it took an alert stop from Federico Marchetti to prevent the visitors from taking the lead through Giampaolo Pazzini's close-range header.
The opening goal finally arrived right on the stroke of half time when Danilo Cataldi released Matri inside the box, and the striker sent a tame effort creeping past the keeper and into the bottom corner.
Lazio picked up where they left off at the start of the second half and doubled their lead within five minutes of the restart when Cataldi once again acted as the creator, this time squaring a pass to Stefano Mauri for a simple finish.
It appeared to be game over with a little more than 20 minutes remaining when the hosts got their third of the game, cutting through the Verona defence all too easily once again and allowing Felipe Anderson to walk the ball into the back of the net.
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It looked as though it would take something special to give Verona any hope whatsoever, and Leandro Greco duly provided that moment of quality when he curled his free kick into the top corner from 25 yards.
The visitors took another step closer to an unlikely comeback just seven minutes later when they cut the deficit to one, Luca Toni sticking out a leg to divert Pawel Wszolek's cross past Marchetti.
However, Lazio soon regained controlled in an action-packed second half and restored their two-goal advantage when Balde Keita cushioned a volley into the far corner from the edge of the penalty area.
Miroslav Klose then came close to adding a fifth for the hosts, but they would not have to wait much longer as Gilberto conceded a penalty in stoppage time that Antonio Candreva converted to complete the 5-2 victory.
Barney Corkhill
