Serie A leaders Inter Milan went four points clear of AC Milan by beating them 3-0 in Sunday’s table-topper derby, thanks to a Lautaro Martinez brace and a Romelu Lukaku effort.
The Nerazzurri’s brisk start paid off after five minutes as Lukaku crossed for a header from Martinez, who then missed a tap-in after Gianluigi Donnarumma saved an Ivan Perisic shot.
Theo Hernandez’s wide effort and a harmless shot from Zlatan Ibrahimovic were AC Milan’s only attempts before Inter Milan defender Milan Skriniar’s header.
He had nodded above the bar late in the fast-paced first half at the Giuseppe Meazza.
Inter Milan’s goalkeeper captain Samir Handanovic was busy in the first three minutes of the second half to stop two headers from Ibrahimovic and a Sandro Tonali drive.
But Martinez struck again off Perisic on 57 minutes and Lukaku closed the game nine minutes later when he fired clinically into the left corner.
Belgian ace Lukaku now tops the scoring chart on 17 goals, one clear of Cristiano Ronaldo of champions Juventus, who wrap up match day 23 against bottom side Crotone on Monday.
“We are united and work every day to get the maximum, trying to get Inter Milan to top and we showed it today,” Martinez said.
“We run and fight together. We suffered a lot this year from the eliminations in the UEFA Champions League and in the Italian Cup.
”So, now we have the league as the only target left. We are happy to be where we are now.”
Third-placed Roma lie six points behind AC Milan when they visit Benevento to close the Sunday programme.
Atalanta went level on points with the Rome Giallorossi and Lazio, thanks to a 4-2 defeat of visiting Napoli.
Atalanta had coach Gian Piero Gasperini dismissed for protesting in the first half.
After the break, they saw Duvan Zapata, a former Napoli striker, nod home and set up Robin Gosens for the hosts’ second after Piotr Zielinski volleyed in a short-lived equaliser.
Luis Muriel stormed to net the Bergamaschi’s third goal for a personal tally of 14 and Gosens then scored an own goal, but Cristian Romero made it 4-2 with a header.
Parma saw visiting Udinese rally from two goals down to a 2-2 draw earlier and stayed second-last in the three-team drop zone.
Andreas Cornelius nodded home and Juraj Kucka converted a spot-kick for the hosts’ 2-0 lead at half-time.
But Udinese bounced back with headers from substitute Stefano Okaka and Bram Nuytinck.
Parma, who have the league’s weakest attack on 17 goals from 23 games, failed to leapfrog third-last Cagliari after the Sardinians lost 1-0 at home to Torino on Friday.
Udinese moved to 13th place, 10 points clear of the danger zone as fourth-last Torino sit five clear of Cagliari.
Fiorentina beat Spezia 3-0 on Friday, with Lazio edging Sampdoria 1-0 the following day as Genoa and Verona drew 2-2 and Sassuolo drew 1-1 with Bologna.
A minute of silence was observed ahead of the weekend games to honour Mauro Bellugi, a former Italy international who died at 71 of COVID-19 on Saturday.(dpa/NAN)