Eurosport - Sat, 02 May 21:28:00 2009
Jose Mourinho's Internazionale edged closer to a fourth straight Serie A title with a 2-0 win over Lazio at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Sulley Muntari were on target in the second half to extend the Nerazzurri's lead over second-placed Milan to 10 points with four games remaining.
City rivals Milan can again close the gap to seven points with victory at Catania on Sunday but even if they do, Inter remain well on course to continue their recent dominance of Italian football.
The mercurial Ibrahimovic broke the deadlock on 57 minutes, firing past Fernando Muslera with a powerful strike from just inside the penalty box.
The Swede turned provider 13 minutes later, slipping a pass through for Muntari to run on to. The former Portsmouth midfielder made no mistake with a crisp finish to get his side back to winning ways after last weekend's blip against Napoli.
Inter were missing the suspended Mario Balotelli but with Ibrahimovic ably supported by the evergreen Luis Figo, the hosts just about edged the first half.
Ibrahimovic should have done better with a glancing header from Figo's cross on 23 minutes before his chip to the near post was headed wide of the mark by Muntari.
At the other end, Cristian Brocchi brought Julio Cesar into action with a stinging 37th minute drive and, as usual, former Birmingham City striker Mauro Zarate hustled and bustled, but otherwise the visitors failed cause much concern to the Inter defence.
After the break, Inter upped their game and the double breakthrough midway through the second half proved too big a deficit for Lazio to peg back, leaving Inter to take a giant step closer to retaining their title.
Earlier, Reggina defender Andrea Costa walked away after swallowing his tongue in his side's 2-1 win at fellow strugglers Bologna.
Costa recovered quickly but was substituted and taken to hospital after losing consciousness in a collision in the second half and needing a physio to pull his tongue out of his throat.
Joint-bottom Reggina boosted their hopes of an unlikely escape from relegation with a battling victory.
Franco Brienza scored with their first attempt on 40 minutes when he beat the offside trap and rifled home before Edgar Barreto doubled the lead just after half-time when he chested down and fired in off the bar from 30 metres.
The club from the southern city of Reggio Calabria looked doomed just a few weeks ago but have taken seven points from their last three games to lie three behind fourth-bottom Torino, who visit Fiorentina on Sunday.
Third-bottom Bologna, who hit the bar twice before Vangelis Moras netted late on, remain a point from safety with four games left while Lecce are level with Reggina before Sunday's trip to Juventus.
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Forza Ibra!!!
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