Champions Inter thump Lazio in cup final warm up

Inter Milan celebrated the Serie A title by winning 3-0 at Lazio on Saturday, in a match which was also a warm up for next week’s Italian Cup final.

Lautaro Martinez, Petar Sucic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan netted for the champions who have a chance to complete for a league and cup double at the same stadium on Wednesday night.

Saturday’s win was played out in a bizarre atmosphere as the vast majority of Lazio supporters continued a months-long boycott of home matches in protest at owner Claudio Lotito’s stewardship of the club.

Hardcore Lazio and Inter fans, who have a long standing relationship also due to shared hard-right politics, gathered together in the nearby Ponte Milvio neighbourhood during the match.

The seats at the Stadio Olimpico that were taken were populated by Inter supporters who cheered on their team to a simple victory in the Italian capital.

Inter are 15 points clear of Napoli who host Bologna on Monday night still unsure of a spot in next season’s Champions League with three matches remaining in their season.

Also battling for a place in the top four are Juventus and Luciano Spalletti’s team took a step towards Europe’s top club competition with a 1-0 win at Lecce.

Dusan Vlahovic’s second goal in as many games seconds after kick-off was enough for Juve to move up to third, a point ahead of AC Milan who host Atalanta on Sunday night.

But more importntly Juve are four points in front of resurgent Roma, who sit in fifth, three points behind Milan.

Serbia striker Vlahovic has missed a huge chunk of this season with a variety of injuries which have and last week broke a scoring duck which stretched back to November.

Vlahovic’s contract runs out at the end of the season and his future with the Turin giants is in the balance.

Lecce are one place and four points ahead of Cremonese who sit just inside the bottom three and face relegated Pisa on Sunday.