FLORENCE, Italy — Fiorentina got a blast of Lazio’s impressive domestic form when the visitor won 4-0 and moved into third place in Serie A.
Ciro Immobile scored one and set up another while Sergej Milinkovi’c-Savi’c also starred with two assists in a fourth straight league victory for Lazio, which has 14 goals in those matches and conceded none.
Lazio moved three points behind Serie A leader Napoli and one below Atalanta. It is above Udinese and defending champion AC Milan on goal difference. Head-to-head is the first tiebreaker at the end of the season.
Fiorentina, in contrast, has won just one of its last eight Serie A matches and sits 13th, just four points off the bottom three, AP reported.
Matías Vecino headed in a corner at the near post in the 11th minute and Mattia Zaccagni doubled the lead in the 25th with another header on a Sergej cross.
Immobile hit the crossbar in the second half then set up substitute Luis Alberto late on and capped a great night in stoppage time when Sergej ran onto a through ball and backheeled it for the Italy forward to slot home.
It has been a different story in Europe for Lazio, which beat Feyenoord in its Europa League opener but was thrashed at Midtjylland 5-1 and drew at Sturm Graz 0-0.
Elsewhere, Giovanni Simeone helped give Napoli command of Serie A with the crucial goal in a 4-1 win at Cremonese which moved his team two points clear at the top.
Unbeaten Napoli had been leading the league on goal difference heading into this weekend’s matches, but they took advantage of Atalanta throwing away a two-goal lead in their 2-2 draw at Udinese with a club-record eighth straight win in all competitions.
Simeone struck Napoli’s second of a tight match with 14 minutes remaining when he met Mario Rui’s deep cross with an unsaveable close-range header.
It was Simeone’s fourth goal in nine matches since arriving from Verona in August — only one of which he has started — after a positive start to life in southern Italy in which he has developed an immediate connection with Napoli supporters.
“I feel a bit like them, a bit Argentine and a bit Italian,” said Simeone to DAZN according to AFP.
“What counts in football is the quality of the time you have. There have been many times when I’ve not had much time and done well and times when I had plenty of minutes and not done anything.”
The heavy defeat was harsh on spirited Cremonese who bounced back from going behind to a soft penalty scored in the 26th minute by Matteo Politano by levelling through Cyriel Dessers’ first Serie A goal a minute after half-time.
However Massimiliano Alvini’s winless side remains second-bottom on three points following their sixth defeat in their first nine top-flight fixtures since 1996.
Luca Zanimacchia hit the bar in the first half and fluffed some half-chances with Napoli wobbling after Dessers’ leveller, but Simeone broke their spirit and Hirving Lozano and Mathias Olivera put the icing on the cake in stoppage time.
