Luis Alberto winner lifts Lazio into fourth
Luis Alberto scored the winner as Lazio battled past Sampdoria 1-0 to move fourth in Serie A on Sunday (AEDT) ahead of a UEFA Champions League Round of 16 clash with holder Bayern Munich.
Lazio's six-match winning streak ended last weekend with a painful 3-1 defeat at Inter Milan.
But Spaniard Alberto struck after 24 minutes in Rome curling in off a Sergej Milinkovic-Savic cross for his seventh league goal this campaign.
Simone Inzaghi's side overtake Juventus to move into the UEFA Champions League berths, equal on points with third-placed Roma.
"Today we had a difficult game. We suffered in the second half, but we deserved the win," Inzaghi said.
"We have two objectives, to get past this round in the [UEFA] Champions League and hold our place in Europe, knowing that we have battleships against us."
Lazio is back in the UEFA Champions League this season after a 13-year break and faces Bayern in Rome on Wednesday (AEDT).
Despite the German champion losing 2-1 to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga on Sunday (AEDT), Inzaghi said the six-time European Cup winner was "the only club in the draw we didn't want".
"They are champions of Europe and the world," he added.
"They have some problems. We have to enjoy the challenge which we would have loved to experience in a packed stadium."
Lazio lost 3-0 to Sampdoria earlier this season and was again made to work by Claudio Ranieri's mid-table side.
Lazio forward Ciro Immobile and Sampdoria's Fabio Quagliarella both threatened in the first half after Alberto's opener.
Vedat Muriqi came off the bench in place of Alberto after an hour, minutes later missing a chance for the second.
Adam Marusic sent through from the right but Kosovar Muriqi was unable to control the ball to finish off on front of goal.
Lazio nevertheless held on despite a late flurry during which they picked up three yellow cards, to extend its unbeaten home run against its Genoa rival to 15 games, and sits 11 points behind leader Inter Milan.
At the top of the table leaders Inter and AC Milan, one point behind in second, renew their duel for pole position on Monday (AEDT) at San Siro in the Derby della Madonnina.
Champion Juventus, in fifth, plays catch-up at home against lowly Crotone on Tuesday (AEDT).
