MILAN: Free-scoring Lazio thumped Sampdoria 4-0 in Serie A on Sunday to stay on course for next season’s Champions League while Benevento were relegated after one season by Crotone’s last-gasp 2-1 win at Udinese.

Headers from Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Stefan de Vrij put Lazio 2-0 up at halftime before Serie A’s leading scorer Ciro Immobile added two in the last five minutes to take his tally to 29 goals and Lazio’s to 83.

The top four qualify for the Champions League group stage next season and Lazio’s win kept them fourth with 67 points, behind AS Roma on their head-to-head record.

Second-half goals from Mauro Icardi, who took his tally to 26, and Ivan Perisic gave Inter Milan a fortuitous 2-1 win at Chievo which kept them fifth with 66 points.

Atlanta beat Torino by the same score to go sixth, pushing AC Milan down to seventh and out of the Europa League places after their shock home 1-0 defeat to Benevento on Saturday.

Davide Faraoni scored in the 86th minute to give Crotone a 2-1 win at Udinese, who slumped to a remarkable eleventh consecutive league defeat. Kevin Lasagna put Udinese ahead after five minutes but Simy levelled two minutes later.

Crotone are 17th with 31 points, one place outside the relegation zone, and are 14 ahead of Benevento who cannot catch them.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2018