Robbie Keane's first official goal for Inter Milan was not enough to spare the Serie A side another painful defeat when they were beaten 4-3 by the reigning Italian champions Lazio in last night's Super Cup, the Italian equivalent of the English Charity Shield at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, writes Paddy Agnew.

The game was less than three minutes old when another of the Inter "new boys", Spaniard Javier Farinos hit a speculative long ball towards Keane from inside his own half. Timing his run perfectly, the Irishman got in behind the formidable Lazio central defensive partnership of Alessandro Nesta and Yugoslav Sinisa Mihajlovic to lob the ball over Lazio goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi.

Inter's joy at Keane's first competitive goal was short-lived. By half-time Lazio had underlined the power of their brand new $82 million, all Argentine strike force, Hernan Crespo and Claudio Lopez.

Before Lopez struck, however, Keane had almost put Inter 2-0 up, again timing his run perfectly to get behind the Lazio defence following a good through ball from Yugoslav Vladimir Jugovic; Keane was only denied a second goal by an excellent save from Peruzzi.