MILAN: Inter Milan beat Lazio 2-0 at home on Saturday to remain in the box seat for the Serie A title. The win at San Siro put the reigning champions 10 points clear of city rivals AC Milan.

They started the game well and created a couple of chances in the opening minutes. They earned

a corner kick in the first minute and Esteban Cambiasso found Mancini unmarked in the area but he could not find the target from the difficult angle. In the next minute, Figo made a run on the right and sent in a dangerous cross that was missed by goalkeeper Fernando Muslera but no Inter player was there to take advantage.

Lazio responded in the seventh minute as Rocchi and Zarate played a nice one-two pass and the Italian came close to scoring before goalkeeper Julio Cesar reached the ball.

Inter struggled to take control of the match overall as they often resorted to long passes but they came close in the 22nd minute when Zlatan Ibrahimovic headed inches wide. Four minutes later, Lazio defender Aleksandar Kolarov’s powerful shot from distance went just wide.

On the half hour mark, Sulley Muntari missed a good chance for Inter in the counter attack. After

trading passes with Ibrahimovic, the Ghanaian headed wide from the area. Inter goalkeeper Cesar parried away Zarate’s shot in the 36th minute.

After the break, Lazio looked more comfortable but it was the home team that took lead after 13 minutes. After dribbling past David Rozenhal and beating Muslera on the edge of the box, Ibramovich fired a powerful shot past goalkeeper Muslera.

Inter doubled their lead in the 70th minute and this time Ibramovich was the provider. Seeing three defenders converging on him, the Swede cleverly released the ball to unmarked Sulley, who beat Muslera at his near post with a low shot.

With five rounds to go, Jose Mourniho’s men are now 10 points ahead, although AC Milan have one game in hand. The hero of the match, Ibramovich will miss the team’s next match at Chievo after he collected yellow card following a tussle with Matuzalem.