Rome: Ciro Immobile netted two penalties and also scored a magnificent strike to complete his hat-trick as Lazio thrashed Hellas Verona 5-1 on Sunday. With this hat trick, Immobile is now just three goals away from overtaking Gonzalo Higuain's single-season record for Serie A with two matches remaining.
He now has 34 goals in 34 matches three more than Cristiano Ronaldo atop the Italian league's scoring chart.
Higuain scored 36 for Napoli in 2015-16.
Immobile's second goal of the night was a thing of beauty: Set up by Jordan Lukaku on the left flank, he curled a shot into the far top corner.
Lazio moved level on points with third-place Atalanta, one point behind Inter Milan.
Juventus, which is five points ahead of Lazio, can clinch a record-extending ninth straight title with a win over Sampdoria later Sunday.
OTHER RESULTS
Roma increased its grip on fifth place by beating Fiorentina 2-1 with two penalties from Jordan Veretout.
Udinese won 1-0 at Cagliari and secured a 26th straight season in the top flight.
Lecce remained in the relegation zone after conceding a stoppage-time decider from Musa Barrow in a 3-2 loss at Bologna.
Also, Torino was held 1-1 at already-relegated Spal.
JUVENTUS CLINCH 9TH STRAIGHT SERIE A TITLE
It's no exaggeration to say that Cristiano Ronaldo had more of an impact on Juventus' record-extending ninth straight Serie A title than anyone else.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner matched a record by scoring in 11 straight league matches before the break for the coronavirus pandemic and quickly regained his form during the restart by reaching the 30-goal mark after only 30 games in his second season in Italy.
For his 31st goal, Ronaldo scored the opener when Juventus beat Sampdoria 2-0 on Sunday to seal the title with two games to spare.
Ronaldo needs only one more goal to break a tie for the Juventus single-season record for league goals set by Felice Borel in 1933-34.
Ronaldo's 10 goals after the lockdown are more than any other player has scored in Europe's top five leagues, with Manchester City's Raheem Sterling and Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski each scoring nine.
