Lazio midfielder Marco Parolo believes the club’s Champions League prospect could be decided against Inter Milan in the final league game of the Serie A campaign. Simone Inzaghi’s side played out a credible 0-0 draw against AS Roma in the Rome derby on Sunday, and this sees them occupy the third and fourth positions respectively with a one-point lead over Inter Milan.
Parolo said: “We are still in the Champions League today, we have proved to be a real team. We played an open game, for some periods of the game it was also very beautiful. Our group has personality and wants to give its best until the end. The Champions League race will be decided against Inter in the last round at the Olimpico.”
Lazio suffered a rather shock exit at the hands of Red Bull Salzburg in the Europa League quarter-final stage, and their hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League lie entirely on finishing in the top-four. Inter and Lazio are separated by just one point in the standings, and the final position could well be decided in the final gameweek, though both sides need to keep matching their results in the run-in.
The Capital outfit have seen the likes of Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Ciro Immobile linked with big-club moves elsewhere, and their chances of keeping hold of the pair could depend on whether they can progress into the Champions League group stage which they have not done in over a decade. Lazio did manage to reach the playoffs during the 2015/16 season, where they lost 3-1 on aggregate to Bayer Leverkusen.