Football
PA Sport 9y

Serie A: Inter Milan hold Lazio, Sampdoria miss chance to move third

Felipe Anderson and Mateo Kovacic exchanged goals of real quality as Inter Milan fought back to rescue a 2-2 draw with Lazio at San Siro on Sunday night.

Inter boss Roberto Mancini glowered from the touchline after watching Felipe Anderson score his first brace in Serie A - the Lazio midfielder's second goal arrived at the end of a wonderful run - but the hosts' luck would change.

Kovacic halved the deficit with a stunning volley, charging the Inter team with confidence and putting Rodrigo Palacio in a position to score his first goal of the season, a goal that spared his side from defeat.

The point was enough to lift Lazio into third place heading into the winter break while Inter remain in 11th.

Earlier, Sampdoria also missed a chance to move into third place after they were held to a 2-2 draw at home to 10-man Udinese.

The Genoa club would have leapfrogged Napoli with victory at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris but, despite the fact Pedro Obiang boosted them into an early lead, goals from Alex Geijo and Danilo gave Udinese the upper hand.

Manolo Gabbiadini would peg the ninth-placed team back with a goal on the hour mark yet they could not quite take advantage of Thomas Heurteaux's dismissal and had to settle for a single point.

Kamil Glik scored twice in the second half as Torino came from behind to beat Genoa 2-1 for their first victory in nearly two months.

Iago Falque gave Genoa a 1-0 half-time lead but Glik equalised seven minutes after the restart. The Polish defender then headed home the winner in the 63rd minute to condemn Genoa to their first defeat on the road this season.

Atalanta fought back from a two-goal deficit to earn a 3-3 draw against Palermo in Bergamo.

Luca Rigoni put Palermo ahead in the sixth minute and Franco Vazquez doubled the advantage shortly after.

German Denis earned and converted a penalty to reduce the arrears in the 40th minute before Vazquez scored his second of the day to give Palermo a 3-1 lead at half-time.

However, second-half goals from Maximiliano Moralez and Denis earned the home side a deserved point.

Palermo coach Giuseppe Iachini will be frustrated with the result but the point nevertheless allowed the Sicilians to establish a new club record of eight consecutive games without a defeat in Serie A.

Empoli held Fiorentina to a 1-1 draw in Florence in the battle of Tuscan teams to extend their unbeaten run to five games.

Peruvian midfielder Juan Manuel Vargas scored his first goal of the season to put Fiorentina ahead in the 44th minute.

The Viola were unlucky not to double their lead two minutes after the restart when Mario Gomez's header struck the post with Empoli goalkeeper Luigi Sepe already beaten.

Lorenzo Tonelli headed in Empoli's equaliser in the 57th minute and the visitors then soaked up the pressure and frustrated the hosts to earn a valuable point at the Artemio Franchi stadium.

Alberto Paloschi scored the only goal of the game to hand Chievo a narrow 1-0 win at Hellas Verona.

The Italian striker headed home Ervin Zukanovic's cross nine minutes from time as Chievo won for the fourth time this season.

Chievo were by far the better side at the Marc' Antonio Bentegodi stadium against a Hellas side that failed to test Chievo goalkeeper Albano Bizzarri until the 84th minute.

The victory, Chievo's second in their last three league games, has lifted the Flying Donkeys to 15th in the standings, four points clear of the drop zone heading into the winter break.

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