Inter Milan 3 - 0 Lazio: Mauro Icardi brace helps Inter thrash Lazio in Serie A

Posted Thursday, December 22, 2016 by PA

Inter continued to enjoy home comforts as they blitzed Lazio with three goals in 12 second-half minutes to claim a 3-0 win.

Ever Banega got the ball rolling before Mauro Icardi continued his sizzling form with a double to take his tally to 14 goals in 18 Serie A appearances and earn a fifth straight win at San Siro for Inter.

Lazio were blown away, having started well, as they suffered just a second defeat since the middle of September.

Such a result never looked likely as the visitors made all the early running and they almost went in front with less than a minute on the clock.

Felipe Anderson surged down the right and squared to Ciro Immobile, whose shot was kept out by Samir Handanovic, with Senad Lulic's effort from the rebound blocked by a wall of Inter defenders.

Immobile had another chance in the opening 20 minutes as he forced Handanovic into more good work, with the goalkeeper doing well to palm away the Italy international's low shot from the edge of the area.

Anderson was causing Inter a host of problems and he almost scored a superb individual effort, reminiscent of John Barnes' famous goal for England against Brazil.

The Lazio man picked up the ball wide on the right and embarked on a jinking run across the penalty box and into the area, but his shot from six yards was weak.

Eventually Inter began to get a foothold, though, and created two half-chances, with Marcelo Brozovic and Banega both testing Federico Marchetti's handling with efforts from distance.

The second half was a different story, though, as Inter ran riot.

Banega got things started nine minutes after the restart with a stunning strike.

He robbed Lulic of possession 25 yards out before getting the ball under control and firing an unstoppable effort into the top corner.

A second was only two minutes in coming as Icardi got his first of the evening, heading in Danilo D'Ambrosio's cross at the near post.

And Icardi notched his fifth league double of the campaign in the 65th minute when he finished off a training ground move, which saw Banega feed him from a set-piece.

Lazio had nothing in response, though had strong claims for a penalty denied, while Icardi was denied a hat-trick by a good save from Marchetti late on.