Inter Milan's lead at the top of the Serie A has been cut to a single point after they were defeated by Lazio in a fiery match at the San Siro. Full of controversy, if not quality, Antonio Candreva and Felipe Anderson stole the show, the former with a brace, whilst both teams were reduced to ten men as tempers flared towards the end. The result ends Inter's run of three wins in succession and keeps the enthralling title race alive.
Candreva's magic the difference in a slow first half
Although never likely to be played at a million miles an hour and with gay abandon, the opening ten minutes of the encounter sprang into life with Lazio taking the lead in only the fifth minute.
It followed a tense opening spell, in which they had nearly done so before when Inter 'keeper Samir Handanovic kept the ball at his feet too long and Alessandro Matri to poke it from his toes, but only to see the ball spin agonisingly along the goal line and be cleared.
But Inter would not heed their warning, and despite a clever ball over the top forcing stand-in 'keeper Etrit Berisha to react quickly off of his line, a clever corner routine caught them napping. As the Inter defence wandered back to the six yard box, Lazio acted quickly and the corner was played to Candreva, who found himself unmarked and he rifled a shot into the bottom corner through a thicket of bodies.
Etrit Berisha produced an able game as deputy (Source: lajmi.net)
Against all odds, having not won a league match since October, Lazio were ahead and had Inter rattled. For the next forty minutes, the away side would pass the ball about gently, caressing it with care, especially when Candreva and Abdoulay Konko played a wonderful batch of one-two's between one another to open up space down the fledgling Inter right. Meanwhile, Inter themselves were struggling to string two passes together, nevermind a threatening shot on target.
And as the half drew to a close, with Inter still impotent in attack, Lazio really should have been two ahead. An awful Felipe Melo pass out from the defensive area only found Anderson who began to saunter his way towards him. Beating him and two others with ease, he was almost through on goal before the ball eventually broke at the six-yard box to Candreva, who inexplicably lofted the ball into Row Z and that would be that for the half.
Inter improve but late controversy hands Lazio the win
Knowing fine well the results that had followed from earlier in the day, Inter surely could surely only have gotten better in the second half; especially as anything other than a win was not an option. To the joy of the fans packed into the San Siro, they did.
Playing with more purpose and aggressive pressing, their new vigour was probably the reason that early on in the first half, Stefan Radu and Berisha produced a moment of madness between them as the Albanian unblieveably picked up Radu's passback with no one around him.
Inter sensed blood, and with the ball set up on the corner of the six-yard box, Mauro Icardi, who had been woeful thus far, stepped up and licked his lips with anamalistic anticipation. Firing the ball through the wall of white, it took a brave stop from Berisha to prevent the equaliser.
For all of the new intensity, the quality was still obviously lacking, with numerous overhit passes and crosses drawing groans from the impatient crowd. However, out of nowhere, Icardi dragged the ball delicately between the two Lazio centre backs from Ivan Perisic's through ball, and with only Berish to beat, he struck it beautifully into the corner and awoke an almighty roar from the crowd.
With the chance to open a four point lead over Napoli, Inter continued to press in packs and the once slick Lazio passing had abandoned them.
However, with the game fizzling out to a dull conclusion, Felipe Melo's bad day at the office would soon become a nightmare. Lazio had worked the ball down the right and the ball flew up into the air, about 12 yards from goal in the far right corner. Melo, brainlessly, decided to clamber over the top of the chasing Lazio player and the referee had no choice but to point to the spot.
Stepping up with the chance to make himself a hero, Candreva almost blew it when his penalty was brilliantly saved by Handovic to his right hand side, but the Italian playmaker had the gods on his side as the ball rebounded to his feet and he put away an easy finish for 2-1.
It was a killer blow to Inter, who had been the much better side since the equaliser, but as they frantically chased the game it looked more and more like a lost cause.
The cause would be all but done when Melo's work was finished for the night, when he ruthlessly kung-fu kicked Lucas Biglia in a moment of petulance and saw red. None other than he deserved. He would be joined by Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, who lashed the ball away to waste time and recieved his deserved second yellow.
Felipe Melo produced an awful performance for Inter and an even worse tackle to be sent off (Source SempreInter)
The win cements Lazio's place in inside the top half of the table, and perhaps even the job of manager Stefano Pioli. For Inter, the pressure is well and truly on at the top and with Napoli, Fiorentina and the rejuvinated Juventus breathing down their necks, it is sure to be tight all the way to the season's end.