Lazio held by Verona as Champions League race heats up

MILAN (AP) — Lazio was held at relegation-threatened Hellas Verona to 1-1 on Monday to hamper its hopes of consolidating its place in the top four in Serie A in a tight race for the Champions League spots.

Cyril Ngonge scored his first goal for Verona on his first start after joining last month, to cancel out Pedro’s opener.

Lazio inched a point above Atalanta and AC Milan, which both lost at the weekend. It was a point behind Roma and four behind second-placed Inter Milan.

Verona moved to within four points of safety.

Lazio was hoping to move into third place in Serie A.

It broke the deadlock in stunning fashion on the stroke of halftime. Pedro played a one-two with Danilo Cataldi, gathered with his back to goal and swivelled to curl a magnificent shot into the top left corner.

Verona leveled six minutes after the break when Darko Lazović whipped in a free kick for Ngonge to head in at the near post.

After setting up the equalizer, Lazović almost turned it around completely two minutes later but his fierce effort came off the right post.

LAST KICK

Monza used the last kick of the match — a penalty — to snatch a 2-2 draw at home to Sampdoria.

Samp thought it was heading for its first win since the start of the the year after Manolo Gabbiadini netted in each half.

But deep in stoppage time, Nicola Murru hauled down Andrea Petagna and Matteo Pessina converted the resulting spot kick nine minutes into added time.

Petagna scored the first equaliser for Monza in the 32nd.

Samp was second from last in the standings, eight points from safety. It had lost its previous five matches without scoring a goal.

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