Story highlights
Lazio beat Lecce 3-2 to go second in Italy's Serie A as Miroslav Klose nets twice
Veteran Germany striker takes his tally of league goals to eight this season
Inter Milan move into ninth place with 2-0 win at home to Fiorentina
Sixth-placed Palermo suffering a shock 1-0 home defeat by second-bottom Cesena
Miroslav Klose continued his fine scoring run with two more vital goals to keep Lazio in title contention on Saturday, while Inter Milan moved into the top half of the table.
Veteran Germany international Klose has enjoyed a renaissance of his club career since moving to the Italian capital, and made it eight Serie A goals this season as Lazio scraped a 3-2 win at bottom side Lecce.
The victory lifted the Rome side into second place above AC Milan and Udinese, who play Bologna and Chievo respectively on Sunday.
It left Lazio a point adrift of unbeaten Juventus, who visit the Stadio Olympico on Monday to take on city rivals Roma.
Despite his exploits for Germany, for whom he has scored 14 goals at three World Cups, Klose was a fringe figure at Bayern Munich before his contract expired in July.
But the 33-year-old will be a key senior figure at next year’s Euro 2012 finals after scoring nine goals in the qualifiers and taking his international tally to 63 – five behind Gerd Muller’s German record – when he netted as captain in the friendly victory over the Netherlands last month.
Klose leveled for Lazio from close range in the 28th minute after David Di Michele put Lecce ahead from the penalty spot, and then set up Lorik Cana two minutes after halftime.
Lecce had picked up only eight points from 13 matches, but looked like adding to that when Stefano Ferrario equalized on the hour.
However, Klose stole the victory for Lazio with three minutes to play when he found space to glance in a header from a cross by French forward Djibril Cisse.
Inter Milan bounced back from last weekend’s home defeat by Udinese with a 2-0 win against Fiorentina at the San Siro that lifted Claudio Ranieri’s team into ninth place.
Striker Giampaolo Pazzini netted the opening goal against his former club four minutes before halftime, pouncing for his second league goal this season after a mistake by Cesare Natali allowed him space to hook the ball past keeper Artur Boruc.
Fiorentina will also rue Yuto Nagatomo’s goal four minutes after the break, as Manuel Pasqual’s attempted clearance ricocheted off the Japan fullback and into the net.
Inter, who went through to the knockout stage of the European Champions League as group winners despite Wednesday’s defeat at CSKA Moscow, have the chance to move further up the table in Tuesday’s trip to Genoa.
Sixth-placed Palermo remained behind Napoli on goal difference after suffering a shock 1-0 home defeat by second-bottom Cesena.
Romanian striker Adrian Mutu put the visitors ahead in the 63rd minute, and Palermo’s young Argentine defender Ezequiel Munoz was sent off for his second booking soon after.
Genoa moved up to seventh with a 2-0 win at Siena, as captain Marco Rossi and Argentine striker Rodrigo Palacio scored in the second half.
