Immobile brace fires Lazio past Salernitana

Milan, Feb 19, 2023 (AFP) - Ciro Immobile struck twice as Lazio beat Salernitana 2-0 on Sunday.

Immobile moved another place up Serie A's all-time scoring charts with his double in Salerno which took him to 191 goals in Italy's top flight.

The Italy forward is now number eight above Swede Kurt Hamrin, who scored most of his 190 goals while playing for Fiorentina between 1958 and 1967, after tapping in Lazio's opener from Adam Marusic's cross on the hour mark and then slotting home a perfect penalty.

Immobile has struggled with injuries but is on eight league strikes for the season, the 32-year-old needing another 14 strikes to draw level with icon Roberto Baggio.

"Our feeling in training over the last few days was that Immobile was improving physically," said Lazio coach Maurizio Sarri.

"Thursday gave him a mental boost so now we need to get the best out of him."

Salernitana, playing their first match under new coach Paulo Sousa after sacking Davide Nicola, have won just one game since the end of October and are four points above Verona.

Lazio are one point above Atalanta, who drop down to sixth after falling to a shock 2-1 home defeat to promoted Lecce.