Milan: A pair of sparkling assists from Felipe Anderson helped Lazio up to fourth place in Serie A with a 2-1 win at Sampdoria on Saturday.
Anderson set up both Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Marco Parolo for goals late in the first half as Lazio moved to within five points of league leaders Juventus.
They had travelled to Genoa desperate to make amends for a 2-0 derby defeat to Roma last week that ended a nine-game unbeaten run for Simone Inzaghi’s men.
Against a tame Sampdoria side that failed to really threaten until Patrick Schick’s late consolation, Lazio would have scored even more were it not for a good performance from home goalkeeper Christian Puggioni.
Sampdoria had not lost at home since being beaten 1-0 by AC Milan in September but they fell behind five minutes before the interval.
Brazilian star Anderson skipped past Karol Linetty and whipped in a cross for Milinkovic-Savic to head home from six yards.
Five minutes later, Anderson delivered a weighted cross that Parolo got the slightest of touches to down low before it crept under Puggioni.
Lazio, who replaced goalkeeper Federico Marchetti with Thomas Strakosha at half-time, could have added more goals in the second period.
However, after cutting in from the right and turning his marker twice, Anderson’s vicious shot was parried by Puggioni at the far post.
Puggioni also saved from Ciro Immobile, while at the other end Fabio Quagliarella came close from a free-kick and also glanced a header wide.
However, he was upstaged in the 89th minute when Schick, a late substitute, beat Strakosha with a left-foot screamer.
Lazio, now with just one defeat in 11 games, are just a point behind Roma and Milan, who meet each other on Monday.
Leaders Juventus go to Torino in the Turin derby on Sunday.
Earlier, Gianmarco Ferrari headed a late winner to help minnows Crotone secure just their second victory of their maiden Serie A campaign, 2-1 over fellow strugglers Pescara.
