Christmas has been ruined for Roberto Mancini after his Inter side were beaten 2-1 by Lazio at the San Siro.

The Serie A leaders might have pulled four points clear heading into the winter break had they claimed victory over struggling Lazio, who before Sunday found themselves down in 14th place after seven games without a win.

But a brace from Antonio Candreva rendered Mauro Icardi’s strike redundant and sent all three points south.

Mancini, whose team remain one point clear of Fiorentina and Napoli, told inter.it: “We’re happy to be out in front at the end of the year, but we really should have taken more points here.

“We knew it would be a difficult game, but we made things harder for ourselves. I’m disappointed be-cause we threw the game away.

“Unfortunately we did not play well, but neither did Lazio. Sometimes you can win games despite playing badly.

“Christmas is a bit ruined now, but it’s still early in what will be a long season.

“For me, Juventus, Napoli, Fio-rentina and Roma remain the favourites for the title.”

Candreva caught Inter cold inside five minutes and it took the Nerazzurri the best part of an hour to respond through Icardi, who managed to bring up his sixth goal of the season thanks to a clever assist from Ivan Perisic.

But Felipe Melo’s dangerous foul earned Lazio a late penalty. Candreva followed up the saved shot to fire Lazio up to 10th in the standings.

Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic said: “When you concede an early goal it can be difficult to follow the game plan, but we were able to get back on track eventually. Unfortunately it all went wrong at the end.

“We must learn our lesson, we have to stick together through the bad times, not just through the good times.”