Rome, April 28 (IANS): Lazio notched up a 2-0 win against Livorno in the Italian Serie A football to continue their chase for a UEFA Europa League spot next season.
The race for the final Europa League berth looks set to go down to the wire as Torino and Verona won as well to move level with Lazio on points in the Serie A table Sunday, reports Xinhua.
As Coppa Italia finalists Napoli and Fiorentina have all but been assured of a top-five finish this season, the sixth place in the league will earn a place in next year's competition.
Torino, Lazio and Verona all have garnered 52 points, five points adrift of the fifth-placed Inter and only one point clear of the eighth-placed Parma and ninth-placed AC Milan.
Lazio claimed the win over Livorno thanks to Stefano Mauri's 35th-minute strike and a 51st minute penalty by Antonio Candreva.
Torino beat Udinese 2-0 to move into sixth place. Omar El Kaddouri put the hosts ahead in the 16th minute and Ciro Immobile, who had set up the opener, sealed the win with a second goal in the 57th minute.
Immobile is now top of the scorers' rank with 21 goals, two more than Verona's Luca Toni, who opened the scoring in the sixth minute of their 4-0 home win over bottom club Catania.
Alberto Frison's own goal doubled the advantage in the 28 minutes, before Marquinho on the stroke of half-time and substitute Juan Gomez 15 minutes from the end sealed a comprehensive win for Andrea Mandorlini's men.
Chievo were pinned firmly in the Serie A relegation mix after throwing away the lead to lose 2-1 against 10-man Sampdoria at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris Sunday.
The visitors headed into the game just two points clear of the drop zone but looked set to be moving away from trouble as they raced ahead thanks to Cyril Thereau's spot-kick mid-way through the second half after Sampdoria defender Shkodran Mustafi had been sent off for a foul on Victor Obinna.
But Sampdoria made light of their numerical disadvantage and turned the table with two goals in the final 10 minutes. Citadin Eder equalised in the 81st minute and Roberto Soriano completing the comeback in stoppage time.
In the late game, Atalanta earned a point thanks to a late goal from Giuseppe De Luca in a 1-1 draw with 10-man Genoa at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia.