Inter Milan are hot on the heels of Serie A leaders Atalanta after crushing Lazio 6-0 in Rome on Monday to demolish one of the division's form teams and send a message to the rest of the league.

Reigning champions Inter came through what was supposed to be a tough test at the Stadio Olimpico with flying colours and are three points off the Scudetto pace with a game in hand.

Simone Inzaghi's side sealed the points with goals equally distributed either side of half-time from Hakan Calhanoglu, Federico Dimarco, Nicolo Barella and Denzel Dumfries, before Carlos Augusto and Marcus Thuram completed the rout with two late strikes.

"It's three-and-a-half years that these boys have given me this level of commitment and I'm proud to be their manager," said Inzaghi to DAZN.

Inter have an Italian Cup tie with Udinese on Thursday and league fixtures against Como and Cagliari before jetting off to Saudi Arabia, where they face Atalanta in the semi-finals of the Italian Super Cup on January 2.

"It's going to be complicated but I hope we put in the same effort and level of performance like the one tonight," added Inzaghi.

An unexpectedly heavy defeat for Lazio, who came into Monday's showdown off the back of fine away wins at Napoli and Ajax, left them fifth and six points behind Atalanta.

- Inter statement -

It also damaged any ideas of Lazio being dark horses for a first league title in a quarter of a century as Marco Baroni's side crumbled once Calhanoglu rammed home the penalty which opened the scoring in the 41st minute.

"I'm sorry for our supporters and I take responsibility for the defeat. We played well for the first 40 minutes but then collapsed, we fell apart" said Lazio coach Baroni.

"We did things that you just can't do against a team like Inter and that means I didn't do a good enough job."

The awarding of Inter's spot-kick, for a Samuel Gigot handball following a VAR check, came just after Inter had had a goal chalked off for offside during the same penalty box melee and angered Lazio.

And the hosts, who had been the better side in the opening half an hour, were punished for lax defending when Dimarco volleyed home a brilliant second four minutes later after sneaking in unmarked at the back post to meet Dumfries' pinpoint cross.

Any hope of a second-half fightback was ended when Barella crashed in his third goal of the season from distance in the 51st minute and Dumfries capitalised on more poor Lazio defending two minutes later with a bullet header.

Carlos Augusto then become the third Inter wing-back to score of the evening in the 77th minute when he expertly controlled Dimarco's pass to spin Adam Marusic and calmly slot home the fifth.

Thuram's brilliant individual strike wasn't just a slap in the face for Lazio, it also made Inter Serie A's top scorers ahead of Atalanta and emphatically showed that they won't give up their title easily.

td/nf