Serie A round up: Inter miss out on top spot after Samp slip

Alexis Sanchez missed an early penalty for Antonio Conte's side who were tripped up by goals from former Inter players Antonio Candreva and Keita Balde.

Second-placed Inter stay one point behind Serie A leaders AC Milan who host champions Juventus later on Wednesday. Inter's leading scorer Romelu Lukaku started on the bench as the forward recovers from a muscular problem. Sanchez started in place of Lukaku but missed the chance to give the visitors an early advantage with Emil Audero saving a penalty. But Candreva made no mistake from the spot after 22 minutes, sending Samir Handanovic the wrong way after Samp were awarded a penalty for a Nicolo Barella handball.

Keita Balde added a second after 38 minutes following good work from Mikkel Damsgaard, the Danish winger sending the Senegalese forward through to coolly finish. Lukaku came off the bench in place of Roberto Gagliardini with an just over an hour gone, two minutes before Stefan de Vrij's header from a Marcelo Brozovic corner reduced the deficit for the visitors. Claudio Ranieri's Sampdoria ended their two-match losing streak to sit 11th.

Third-placed Roma closed the gap on Inter to three points after scoring three goals in 35 first half minutes in their 3-1 win at bottom side Crotone. Borja Mayoral bagged a first-half brace with Henrikh Mkhitaryan adding a third from the penalty spot.

Sassuolo beat Genoa 2-1 to move fourth with Atalanta back in the European places with a 3-0 win over Parma. Josip Ilicic set up Luis Muriel for the first in the 15th minute in Bergamo with fellow Colombian Duvan Zapata adding a second shortly after the break and Robin Gosens wrapping up the scoring after an hour.

Lazio won 2-1 against Fiorentina with goals in either half from Felipe Caicedo and Italian international Ciro Immobile. The Romans are eighth in the table, two points behind Juventus, who will start their clash at the San Siro in seventh, 10 points off league leaders Milan.

Torino grabbed a point in a 1-1 draw at home against Hellas Verona to move out of the relegation zone. Cagliari stretched their winless run to nine games after falling 2-1 at home to Benevento, who sit 10th.