Lazio pile pressure on Roma for fifth place and keep Sampdoria worrying about relegation thanks to a Patric header and show of individual skill from Luis Alberto.
Pedro was still out of action, while Samp were feeling more confident after beating Genoa, but weren’t guaranteed safety yet. Stefano Sensi, Sebastian Giovinco and Manolo Gabbiadini were injured, though Tomas Rincon was available again.
Emil Audero had to fingertip a Luis Alberto corner over, as it was curling in directly from the flag, and the Spaniard tested him again from distance.
Morten Thorsby really should’ve scored when blasting a Ciccio Caputo cross over relatively undisturbed from 12 yards and Tomas Rincon tested Thomas Strakosha, while Felipe Anderson’s angled drive was deflected inches wide off Tommaso Augello.
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Another Luis Alberto curler skimmed the bar and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic stung Audero’s gloves, but the breakthrough came just before half-time.
Luis Alberto curled a free kick onto the head of Patric, the defender left disconcertingly unmarked from seven yards. It was his first ever Serie A goal.
Strakosha beat away a Sabiri strike on the counter and Audero at full stretch got his gloves to a Mattia Zaccagni curler.
Luis Alberto had been trying all evening and got his goal in absolute style, rolling the ball one way to go around Audero, then cutting back inside to thread his finish through the eye of a needle between two defenders on the line.
Audero got down well for the one-handed save on Ciro Immobile’s angled drive and parried a Toma Basic long-range effort.
Fabio Quagliarella thought he’d scored in the final minute, sliding in to meet a Bartosz Bereszynski cross and redirecting it onto the base of the upright from six yards.
Lazio 2-0 Sampdoria
Patric 41 (L), Luis Alberto 59 (L)