Lazio dismantle Juventus 3-0 in Turin to join Inter at the top of Serie A

Lazio walk into Turin, dismantle Juventus 3-0, and the rest of Serie A has to stop pretending they are a curiosity. Gennaro Gattuso's side produced a performance of rare authority at the Allianz Stadium on Sunday, moving level on points with Inter Milan at the top of the table and recording their best start to a league season in over a quarter of a century.

Nineteen points from seven matches. No Lazio side since Sven-Goran Eriksson's eventual champions of 1999-2000 has collected that many at this stage — and that team opened with 17 before going unbeaten through its first nine games and edging Juventus to the title by a single point. The parallels are becoming difficult to wave away. Gattuso has also become the first Lazio manager ever to win six of his first seven Serie A matches.

The damage was inflicted with cold efficiency. Oliver Provstgaard rose above the Juventus defence after 37 minutes to glance Mattia Zaccagni's cross inside the far post for his first goal in Lazio colours, following a short corner worked on the left. Juventus, booed off at the break, briefly threatened a response after the interval — Nick Woltemade, introduced at half-time, scuffed a good chance wide — but the game was settled in the 66th minute when Gustav Isaksen took a pass from Nuno Tavares on the right, cut inside onto his left foot and bent a low finish into the far corner. It was the Dane's second goal at this stadium in as many seasons. Substitute Fisayo Dele-Bashiru completed the scoring with three minutes left, picking the ball up inside his own half, cantering unchallenged into the Juventus penalty area and sliding home.

A Danish double decides it

Provstgaard's goal carried a neat symmetry: the 1.93m centre-back was the beneficiary of Lazio's set-piece organisation, attacking Zaccagni's delivery with real intent. "The Biancocelesti took the lead in the same way eight minutes before half-time," was the refrain across the Italian press — and it was deserved. Tavares had already gone close with a curling effort that deflected off Gleison Bremer and looped onto the top of the crossbar, while Juventus could offer only Randal Kolo Muani's 24th-minute strike, correctly ruled out for offside after he volleyed home.

Isaksen's strike was the goal of the afternoon. Faced with a backpedalling full-back, the winger drifted inside and placed his shot precisely inside Guglielmo Vicario's far post. By the time Dele-Bashiru raced clear to fire low past the Juventus goalkeeper, the home supporters had already begun jeering their own team through to the final whistle.

Spalletti's men booed off

For Juventus, this was an afternoon of uncomfortable truths. Head coach Luciano Spalletti watched from the stands while serving a one-match touchline ban after his red card against Cagliari, with assistant Marco Domenichini on the technical area. Whatever the view was from up there, it was not pretty. Juventus have won just one of their last five league matches, sit eighth with 11 points, and are eight points adrift of the summit already.

"We were clearly outplayed, we were slow, we lacked ideas," Spalletti admitted afterwards. "It's hard to understand."

Gattuso, by contrast, is handling the growing hype with deliberate calm: "We may well be the surprise package of this league, but we mustn't change our approach, we need to take each match as it comes and work hard."

The coach knows what happens when a Lazio side starts believing its own billing. His squad has conceded before the break in barely any game this season; Sunday was another first-half clean sheet, and the defending from front to back was immaculate. Lazio worked harder, ran harder and thought quicker in every phase, and the scoreline flattered Juventus if anything.

The title race takes shape

Inter remain the nominal leaders, their unbeaten domestic start preserved with a 3-1 comeback victory over Bologna on Saturday. But Lazio are right on their shoulder now, and the chasing pack is busy sorting itself out behind them.

AC Milan held off a late Atalanta fightback to win 3-2 at San Siro and end the weekend fourth, four points off the lead. Club-record signing Goncalo Ramos opened the scoring from the penalty spot after young Slovenian Relja Obric's nightmare debut — the 20-year-old's first touch in Serie A, after replacing the injured Sead Kolasinac, was a handball in the path of Yunus Musah's shot. Adrien Rabiot doubled the lead before half-time, and Mario Gila made it 3-0 in the 57th minute. Atalanta refused to fold: Gaetano pulled one back, Nikola Krstovic added a second with nine minutes left, and only a one-on-one save from Mike Maignan against Davide Zappacosta preserved Milan's lead.

"Usually, we struggle at the start of the match and play better in the second half. It was the opposite today; we need to find the right balance, but these are three important points in our season," said Rabiot, who was booked before scoring and had to be calmed down by Maignan after shouting at the referee.

Como are fifth with 14 points after a commanding 3-1 win at struggling Fiorentina. Teenager Mattia Liberali scored on his first league start, Nico Paz added a second before half-time, and Anastasios Douvikas sealed it after Marin Pongracic had briefly given the hosts hope. Fiorentina remain second from bottom with four points from seven matches, and Lecce won 3-0 at Udinese in Sunday's other fixture.

But the headline story of the weekend belongs to Lazio. The surprise package of Serie A are running out of ways to hide — and their fans, already dreaming of 2000, will not let them.