Atalanta and Lazio heat up for Champions League with wins in Serie A

Atalanta and Lazio warmed up for Champions League video games with victories in Serie A on Friday.
Atalanta defeated visiting Spezia 3-1 with two targets from Mario Pašalić, whereas substitute Felipe Caicedo scored a late winner for Lazio to beat last-placed Crotone 3-2.
Atalanta moved into fourth place and the ultimate Champions League spot whereas Lazio remained seventh.
Atalanta will attempt to overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit when it visits Real Madrid within the spherical of 16 on Tuesday. Then Lazio must make up for a 4-1 first-leg loss when it performs at Bayern Munich on Wednesday.
Luis Muriel additionally scored for Atalanta, which bought all of its targets within the second half.
Roberto Piccoli, who’s on mortgage from Atalanta, pulled one again for Spezia 9 minutes from time.
Sergej Milinković-Savić and Luis Alberto additionally scored for Lazio, whereas Simy Nwankwo had a brace for Crotone.
“This victory gives us motivation,” Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi stated. “We have a game in hand and if we can keep winning we can get back into the top four. There are a lot of points still up for grabs in terms of achieving our goal — getting back into the Champions League.”
With his tenth and eleventh targets of the season, Simy matched Obafemi Martins for many targets by a Nigerian in a single Serie A marketing campaign. Martins additionally scored 11 for Inter Milan in 2004-05.