Milan, Lorient: Senegal striker Keita Balde came off the bench to hit a late winner in a 2-1 defeat of Empoli that boosted Lazio’s Europa League hopes on Saturday.

Lazio remain in fifth place at 16 points behind Juventus, who saw Paulo Dybala hit a brace in a 4-1 win over former club Palermo on Friday to stretch the Turin giants’ Serie A lead over Roma to 10 points.

Roma, in second, can restore their seven-point deficit with a win at home to Torino on Monday. Fellow title challengers Napoli, two points further off the pace, sit third before visiting Chievo on Sunday.

Simone Inzaghi’s Lazio are one of several sides looking to secure at least a top-five finish and an automatic place in the Europa League.

But the capital side were under pressure to keep pace after unheralded Atalanta, in fourth, maintained their purple patch with a 1-0 home win over struggling Crotone.

And Empoli were in no mood for giving up their fight to stay away from the relegation zone.

Giovanni Martusciello’s side are a notoriously tough nut to crack at their Castellani stadium, which almost saw a candidate for goal of the season when Manuel Pucciarelli’s volley edged just over Thomas Strakosha’s crossbar.

At the other end, Lazio striker Ciro Immobile stung Lukasz Skorupski’s gloves and saw an angled drive finger-tipped round the base of the upright.

When sent clear on a through ball, Felipe Anderson scuffed his finish with the goal at his mercy.

Skorupski had to perform heroics to keep out Marco Parolo’s daring shot from distance, then produced a great one-handed save on an Immobile cutback from the by-line as Anderson lurked in front of goal.

It took until halfway through the second period for the deadlock to be broken, and Rade Krunic had the home fans in raptures with a 25-yard drive whose swerve in flight gave a diving Strakosha no chance.

But their joy was short-lived. Anderson’s cross was deflected and Immobile, spotting the opportunity, held off his maker on the edge of the box to expertly poke the ball past Skorupski.

Meanwhile, Mario Balotelli was sent off on his return to the Nice team but Lucien Favre’s side held on for a 1-0 win at Lorient on Saturday which sees them close the gap on Ligue 1 leaders Monaco.

Wylan Cyprien scored the only goal of the game in Brittany, collecting Arnaud Souquet’s pass and firing home from inside the area in the 15th minute.

The result allowed Nice to go back above Paris Saint-Germain into second place and close to within three points of Monaco, who could only draw 1-1 at Bastia on Friday.

“To win away from home does us good and it is well deserved because we had to hold on at 10 against 11,” Favre said.

“We saw how difficult it is for all teams with the Monaco result, so logically it was going to be difficult for us too.”

Balotelli was sent off after apparently talking out of turn to match referee Tony Chapron midway through the second half.

It was his third red card this season in the French top flight, although his first, also against Lorient back in October, was later overturned.

“I didn’t see what happened. All of a sudden the card came out. Apparently there were words,” said Favre.

The Italian, who has scored nine league goals, has endured a frustrating couple of weeks - he was dropped from the team for a 1-0 win against Saint-Etienne and then missed last week’s draw at Rennes due to illness, but returned in Lorient in place of injured leading scorer Alassane Plea.

It was a first away win since the end of November for Nice, while Lorient remain rooted to the foot of the table.