advertisement

'We lost our heads': Inter beaten with controversial goal

ROME (AP) - A controversial goal led to Inter Milan's first defeat of the season in a 3-1 loss at Lazio in Serie A on Saturday.

Felipe Anderson scored a late winner while Inter fullback Federico Dimarco was down injured.

The goal infuriated Inter but the rules say the referee should interrupt play only when there is a risk of serious injury, which was not the case.

Inter's players were calling for Lazio to kick the ball out of play when Anderson redirected a rebound of a shot from Ciro Immobile.

Sergej Milinković-Savić then secured the three points for Lazio with a header in stoppage time as Inter's focus was lost.

Immobile had canceled out Ivan Perišić's first-half penalty with a penalty of his own.

It marked a bitter return to the Stadio Olimpico for new Inter Milan coach Simone Inzaghi, who coached Lazio for the last five seasons after also spending the bulk of his playing career with the Roman club.

Inzaghi acknowledged, 'œWe lost our heads.

'œThat shouldn't happen, because the referee can let play continue and there were 10 minutes plus stoppages to go. We should've kept playing.'ť

Inter remained in third place but dropped five points behind city rival AC Milan, which came back from two goals down for a 3-2 win over Hellas Verona at the San Siro.

Napoli can reclaim the lead on Sunday if its beats Torino to extend its perfect start.

Lazio, which moved up to fifth, had been slow to adapt to Maurizio Sarri's fast-paced attacking game but beat Roma in the city derby late last month and is developing into a tricky opponent.

'œInter had the ball when Dimarco went down, so if someone should have kicked it out it was them,'ť Sarri said. 'œThere's not much to debate. They attempted to score with a man down then we continued to play.'ť

AC MILAN COMEBACK

An own goal from Koray Günter completed Milan's comeback in the 3-2 win over Verona.

After Gianluca Caprari and Antonin Barak put Verona ahead 2-0 after 24 minutes, Olivier Giroud pulled one back with a header near the hour mark, Franck Kessie converted a penalty and then Günter redirected a cross into his own goal.

The winner came just after Zlatan Ibrahimović came on to mark his return from injury. However, fellow center forward Ante Rebić came off with a physical problem during the first half.

MORE FANS

Earlier, Ukraine midfielder Viktor Kovalenko - on loan from Atalanta - set up one goal then scored the winner as Spezia came from a goal down to beat Salernitana 2-1 and climb out of the drop zone.

It's the first Serie A weekend in the pandemic when stadium capacities have been raised to 75%.

___

More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

___

Andrew Dampf is at https://twitter.com/AndrewDampf

A referee shows a yellow card to Lazio's Felipe Anderson during a Serie A soccer match between Lazio and Inter Milan at Rome's Olympic stadium, Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) The Associated Press
Inter Milan's head coach Simone Inzaghi looks on prior a Serie A soccer match between Lazio and Inter Milan at Rome's Olympic stadium, Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) The Associated Press
Lazio's Sergej Milinkovic-Savic scores his side's third goal during the Serie A soccer match between Lazio and Inter Milan at Rome's Olympic stadium, Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) The Associated Press
An eagle is seen as part of entertainment before the Serie A soccer match between Lazio and Inter Milan at Rome's Olympic stadium, Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) The Associated Press
AC Milan's Franck Kessie celebrates after scoring his side's second goal from the penalty spot during the Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Verona at the San Siro stadium, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni) The Associated Press
AC Milan's Daniel Maldini looks at the ball during the Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Verona at the San Siro stadium, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni) The Associated Press
Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.