Gomez double punishes Lazio, five-goal Inter beat Benevento

Milan: Alejandro Gomez scored twice as Atalanta overpowered Lazio 4-1 in Rome while Serie A title rivals Inter Milan crushed promoted Benevento 5-2 on Wednesday.

The two scheduled season-opening matches had been pushed back because of Atalanta and Inter’s European campaigns in August.

And the two northern rivals gave a demonstration of their firepower which they hope will deny Juventus a 10th consecutive Serie A title, with the champions settling for a point at Roma on Sunday.

Atalanta and Inter are now both top of the Serie A table alongside Napoli, Hellas Verona and AC Milan with a maximum of six points from two games.

Juve have four points before they host Napoli on Sunday.

Atalanta were three goals up at half-time with Robin Gosens, Hans Hateboer and Gomez all scoring, and avoided last season’s slip-up where Lazio came back from three goals down to draw 3-3. “We all knew what had happened last time and we talked about it at half-time,” said Netherlands defender Hateboer.

“We knew that when they score a goal they could score others, but when they scored we got the fourth and closed it.”

Felipe Caicedo pulled a goal back for Lazio after 57 minutes but Gomez scored his second goal just after the hour mark.

“The squad is the same (as last season) and this is a strength,” added Hateboer of his side who finished fourth last campaign.

“But it’s too early to talk about the Scudetto.”

Simone Inzaghi’s Lazio have another tough fixture on Sunday when they host Inter.

“The defeat hurts and burns, but the performance was there,” said Inzaghi. “The result does not reflect the match.”

After their last-gasp 4-3 win over Fiorentina last weekend Antonio Conte’s Inter achieved another big win over Benevento who had shocked Sampdoria 3-2 last time out.

Incisive Inter: Inter Milan’s Romelu Lukaku scored twice, the first within 30 seconds, and Achraf Hakimi impressed on his debut start.

Hakimi, who has spent the past two seasons on loan from Real Madrid at Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, unlocked the match with his acceleration down the right finding Lukaku to blast in the opener.

The Morocco international then set up Roberto Gagliardini to volley in after 25 minutes and Lukaku for Belgian’s second just before the half-hour.

Agence France-Presse