Luis Alberto lifts Lazio to fourth in Serie A

Milan (AFP) – Luis Alberto scored the only goal as Lazio battled past Sampdoria 1-0 to move fourth in Serie A on Saturday.

Lazio’s six-match winning streak ended last weekend with a painful 3-1 defeat at Inter Milan.

But Spaniard Alberto struck after 24 minutes in Rome curling in off a Sergej Milinkovic-Savic cross for his seventh league goal this campaign.

Simone Inzaghi’s side overtake Juventus to move fourth into the Champions League berths, equal on points with third-placed Roma, with both their rivals playing later this weekend.

Lazio lost 3-0 to Sampdoria earlier this season and were again made to work by Claudio Ranieri’s mid-table side.

Lazio forward Ciro Immobile and Sampdoria’s Fabio Quagliarella both threatened in the first half after Alberto’s opener.

And Vedat Muriqi came off the bench in place of Alberto after an hour, minutes later missing a chance for the second.

Adam Marusic sent through from the right but Kosovar Muriqi was unable to control the ball to finish off on front of goal.

Lazio nevertheless held on to extend their unbeaten home run against their Genoa rivals to 15 games, and sit 11 points behind leaders Inter Milan.

At the top of the table leaders Inter and AC Milan, one point behind in second, renew their duel for pole position on Sunday in the San Siro.

Champions Juventus, in fifth, play catch-up at home against lowly Crotone on Monday.