Immobile breaks Lazio’s Serie A scoring record with Venezia winner

Milan (AFP) – Ciro Immobile broke Lazio’s all-time Serie A scoring record on Monday with the only goal in his team’s 1-0 win over struggling Venezia which moved them fifth.

Immobile, who also had a goal ruled out for offside just after the break, smashed home a 58th-minute penalty to take his top-flight tally with Lazio to 144, one more than Italian goalscoring icon Silvio Piola.

Piola is Serie A’s all-time leading scorer with 274 goals over a 25-year career in which his biggest honour was the 1938 World Cup for his national team.

He played at Lazio for nine of those years and scored 149 times overall for the Roman club, another record broken towards the end of last season by Immobile who is now on 175 Lazio goals in all competitions after netting a league-leading 21st of the season.

Immobile’s winner was especially sweet as it allowed Lazio to move above Atalanta and most importantly Roma ahead of next weekend’s capital city derby.

Maurizio Sarri’s side are two points ahead of their local rivals after one defeat in their last eight matches, which came in the dying seconds against title-chasing Napoli a fortnight ago.

Venezia meanwhile stay in the relegation zone, three points from safety after a third straight defeat and the 16th of their first season in Serie A in nearly two decades.