Serie A | Lazio 0-6 Inter: Holders send big message with tennis score | OneFootball

Inter sent a signal in the Scudetto race with a dominant 6-0 victory away to on-form Lazio, including a sensational Nicolò Barella screamer from distance.

Both teams were on 31 points, although the Nerazzurri had a game in hand, so this was a title showdown. Taty Castellanos was suspended with Alessio Romagnoli and Matias Vecino injured, so Tijjani Noslin came in for a side that was fresh from Thursday’s 3-1 win away to Ajax. The Nerazzurri were smarting after their second defeat of the season, 1-0 in the Champions League at Bayer Leverkusen, with Francesco Acerbi and Benjamin Pavard out of action.

See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.

Nuno Tavares rode two tackles to see his shot deflected into the arms of Yann Sommer, then Noslin volleyed over from 12 yards on a Nicolò Rovella cross from the right and Federico Dimarco made a decisive block on Mattia Zaccagni after riding three tackles.

There was a problem for Lazio, as Mario Gila went off injured to make way for Samuel Gigot.

He was immediately involved, because Inter had the ball in the net after a corner when Ivan Provedel parried the Denzel Dumfries header into the path of Stefan de Vrij, but Lautaro Martinez was offside. VAR also spotted Dumfries had nodded it onto the wrist of Gigot, so Hakan Calhanoglu converted a penalty to give them the lead.

Inter added a second moments later, as Dumfries stood up a cross to the back post for his fellow wing-back Dimarco’s cushioned left-foot volley from nine yards.

ROME, ITALY – DECEMBER 16: Federico Dimarco of FC Internazionale celebrates scoring his team’s second goal during the Serie A match between SS Lazio and FC Internazionale at Stadio Olimpico on December 16, 2024 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Paolo Bruno/Getty Images)

Things went from bad to worse for Lazio, also losing Gigot after a knock to the back of the head during the penalty incident, moving Adam Marusic into a makeshift centre-back role.

The Nerazzurri went 3-0 up with a sensational strike from Barella, who controlled the Calhanoglu pass, flicked it up with his left foot and smashed the simply unstoppable right-foot half-volley into the top corner from a good 23 metres out.

Moments later it was 4-0, because Nuno Tavares was caught napping as Dumfries snuck up behind him for a huge header on the Alessandro Bastoni cross.

Barella could’ve had a fifth, but opted for a back-heel flick instead when sent through by Marcus Thuram’s counter-attack.

Carlos Augusto helped win back the ball from Loum Tchaouna in the final third, then was ready to meet the return pass from Dimarco to score from a tight angle following a cheeky, quality turn.

Piotr Zielinski ballooned over the bar from nine yards on the Thuram pull-back from the by-line.

Thuram instead did it himself for 6-0, twisting and turning to confuse makeshift centre-back Marusic and blast in at the near bottom corner.

Calhanoglu pen 41 (I), Dimarco 45 (I), Barella 51 (I), Dumfries 53 (I), Carlos Augusto 77 (I), Thuram 90 (I)