Lazio see off Fiorentina to take a share of third place in Serie A

Lazio drew level on points with third-placed Napoli in the Serie A table by beating Fiorentina 3-1 at the Stadio Olimpico.Simone Inzaghi's men dominated and took a healthy advantage into the break thanks to Keita Balde Diao's opener and a Lucas Biglia penalty.In the second half Josip Ilicic missed from the spot but Fiorentina would manage to score through Mauro Zarate before Stefan Radu confirmed the outcome.Victory offered a share of a Champions League berth and with that in mind, Lazio set about securing the three precious points.Ciprian Tatarusanu had to push Bastos' early effort away before, in the 23rd minute, the Biancocelesti opened the scoring through Keita.Sergej Milinkovic-Savic provided the pass into the Fiorentina box that Keita launched into the bottom corner.Before half-time Lazio were 2-0 up as Biglia converted a penalty in stoppage time after Nenad Tomovic fouled Milinkovic-Savic.Fiorentina had a chance to respond moments after the restart, with Biglia conceding a spot-kick by impeding Sebastian Cristoforo. However, Ilicic could only find Federico Marchetti's outstretched arm.La Viola did get to halve the deficit in the 64th minute as former Lazio striker Zarate seized on Cristian Tello's assist before powering home.Nikola Kalinic thought he had grabbed an equaliser with seven minutes remaining but his header did not count as he had jumped into Marchetti to achieve it.Lazio ensured any thoughts of a late rally were quashed, though, when Radu stuck Ciro Immobile's through ball beyond Tatarusanu at the death.