31 October 2006

Romanisti di merda attack Olimpiacos fans

From Gazzetta.it:

Un gruppo composto di dieci persone, a quanto si è appreso tifosi romanisti, con i volti coperti, sono entrati la notte scorsa intorno all'1.45 in un albergo di via Gregorio XI dove alloggiavano supporter dell'Olympiakos. Una volta nella hall dell'hotel ci sono stati momenti di tensione: un tifoso greco, che era con altri connazionali, è stato ferito con 5 tagli alla coscia destra. Il tifoso, di 32 anni, è stato soccorso e trasportato all'Aurelia Hospital. Danneggiati anche alcuni arredi e suppellettili della hall dell'albergo e infranta una vetrata esterna. Sono intervenuti i carabinieri.
"A group made up of ten people, who were discovered to be Romanisti, with covered faces, entered a hotel on Via Gregorio XI last night at 1:45 where supporters of Olimpiacos were lodged. At one point in the hall of the hotel there was a moment of tension: a Greek fan, who was with other compatriots, was wounded with five cuts on his right leg. The fan, 32 years old, was treated and transported to Aurelia Hospital. Also some furniture of the hotel hall was damaged and an external window was broken. The carabinieri intervened."

Truly deplorable behavior from the Romanisti. While Lazio has its own problems with the arrests of IRR leaders, they have not been implicated in something as awful as deliberately seeking out opponents' supporters and attacking them.

Oh, and they almost lost their match to the Greeks anyway.

30 October 2006

Lazio 0-0 Reggina: frustration

Oddo can't stand it. Many Laziali can't either. After drawing 0-0 with Empoli at the Olimpico on Sunday, Lazio has scored just one goal in their previous four matches. (In their one match before that, they scored four goals as they shamed Torino.)

What is so wrong with Lazio? Actually, very little except for a distinct lack of ability to convert good chances. First, Goran Pandev has done nothing all season, literally: he has not yet recorded a goal. However, Delio Rossi has unflagging confidence in him, and Pandev will be a starting striker for Lazio as long as he is not injured or disqualified. We got to see what the Lazio attack would look like without Pandev this past Sunday since he was serving a one-game disqualification for his red card against Samp. Honestly, Igli Tare looked better than Goran has all season. Although he was unable to convert, Tare was successfully challenging for the ball and generating chances. Tommaso Rocchi was in usual form, getting more attention from the linesman raising the flag on him than from anyone else. We also got to see what happens if Lazio plays with three strikers, when Rossi put in Inzaghino in the late second half. The defensive midfield collapsed upon itself and Reggina got their only serious chances of the day. It's obvious that the 4-4-2 is still best for Lazio and that a switch to a 4-3-3 would take a lot of practice. One final note on the offense: Stephen Makinwa will be back on the bench against Empoli, which will give Delio Rossi even more flexibility with his striking force.

The past three games have proved one thing about the biancoceleste defense: Massimo Oddo is definitely their core. Consider Lazio's last seven games. Oddo has played in five of them; in those five matches, Lazio has recorded clean sheets every time. Oddo was disqualified for two of them: in those two, Lazio conceded five goals. Certainly this is a concern for Rossi, since relying too much in one man is always dangerous.

But since the defense is essentially sound as long as Oddo and Peruzzi play, Lazio must focus on the offensive production. They tried desperately to put the ball in the back of the net at the end of the match, crashing the box with three strikers. Even the last-ditch attempt in the waning seconds of stoppage time came close. But Reggina's defense also collapsed, dropping as many men back as possible in order to salvage a point on the road. Their plan worked, and despite Lazio's domination of the possession and flow of play, the score remained at zeroes. It is frustrating for Lazio, certainly, but it should be no cause for panic.

27 October 2006

Lazio - Reggina preview

Lazio (7 pts, 13th place)
vs.
Reggina (-4 pts, 20th place)
15:00 CET (9:00 AM EST) Sun, Oct 29
Stadio Olimpico, Roma


US TV: FSC (live)

Sorry the preview is late again. At least I get them up before the match actually happens. Here's a quick rundown of what you need to know about how Lazio's lineup will look against Reggina:

Oddo will be back after serving his two game disqualification. Stendardo and Pandev will both be out for their red cards in the match against Sampdoria. Cribari will come off the bench for Stendardo and Tare will start in place of Goran. Oddo's return should make up for the slight hole at center back. Pandev has done nothing all season, so starting Tare isn't really much of a loss. The only problem with the striking duo is that Rocchi, although he will start, probably will not be able to play more than a half due to his nagging muscle problem. That means we could see Inzaghino in for more than just five minutes. It also means that if Lazio wants to win, they should score early.

Projected lineup:

Peruzzi
Oddo-Siviglia-Cribari-Zauri
Mutarelli*-Mudingayi-Ledesma-Mauri
Tare-Rocchi

*Breaking news for Lazio's midfield. As the injury revolving door continues to spin, Manfredini has strained his left thigh and will be out for at least 45 days. I personally like Manfredini, but he hasn't been any more productive than the rest of the midfield. Just don't expect to see him for a few weeks.

Prediction (is back!): Lazio 2-1 Reggina. Rocchi in the first half, maybe a rigore from Oddo.

LAZIO PLUS EIGHT!

The results of the CONI arbitration are in, and Lazio has had 8 of its 11 points of penalty eliminated! The biancocelesti have jumped from -1 point and 18th place in the classifica to 7 points and 13th place. Other teams also received reductions: Fiorentina +4 and Juve +8 (in the Serie B classifica). AC Milan got no reduction, but they also had the smallest initial penalty.

Gazzetta.it has an excellent table of the penalties at various stages in the appeals process and how they have (or would have) affected the table. For those who don't read Italian, the columns are in order: "Today, after arbitration"; "After the appeals sentences"; "How it would be with the first-degree penalties"; "How it would be without penalty."

As a practical result, Lazio enters their match with Reggina on Sunday only 5 points out of a UEFA Cup spot. Certainly, there is a lot of the season, but FORZA E AVANTI LAZIO!

Samp 2-0 Lazio: seeing red

I didn't get to see Sampdoria - Lazio, and that's probably a good thing. This will be brief, because I really don't want to talk about it that much.


1. Goddammit Belleri. In two games he's given up two goals, the one against Samp an even bigger mistake than the one against Catania.

2. What are you doing Pandev? Getting two yellow cards? Who are you challenging that hard for the ball?

3. Stendardo! Fouling the last man is always a hard call to make. If he thought the goal was certain if he let the play continue, then it was appropriate. But Peruzzi is between the pipes, so there is always a good chance for a block.

4. "Igli! You've fucked up enough for one night!" Tare saw an entire half of play because Rocchi had to exit at the break. His one good chance he drilled off the crossbar.

Lazio - Reggina preview coming tonight. Maybe, just maybe, the outlook won't be too bleak.

24 October 2006

Samp - Lazio preview

Sampdoria (7 pts, 11th place)
vs.
Lazio (-1 pts, 18th place)
20:30 CET (2:30 PM EDT) Wed, Oct 25
Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genova


US TV: none

Lazio face another tough opponent on the road as they take on Sampdoria in this mid-week match. The short time between games could be just what Lazio needs. They didn't have a full week to stew over the loss to Catania on Sunday, but instead had to return straight to practice. A win against the Genovesi could be the quick turnaround the club needs.

The club will need to perform on the field, and that means that all of the best biancocelesti need to start the match. Massimo Oddo is still out for his red card incident, and Pasquale Foggia will miss both this match and the one on Sunday due to a contusion on his left calf. Delio Rossi will start the same lineup as he did against Catania, with the exception of returning Ledesma and Mudingayi to central midfield. They are the first-team players, and may help Lazio move the ball between the boxes.

Samp will be missing a couple players as well, as they saw yellow five times in their previous match against Atalanta and now have two players disqualified for consecutive cautions. That will not be the only effect of that match: Samp will be justifiably angry after surrendering a two-goal lead and losing the match as Atalanta scored twice in the last five minutes. Thus Lazio and Samp both have a chip on their shoulders. Whichever squad is able to keep its cool as they try to restablilize their season will fare best.

Probable formation for Lazio:

Peruzzi
Belleri-Siviglia-Stendardo-Zauri
Manfredini-Mudingayi-Ledesma-Mauri
Rocchi-Pandev

Prediction: I'm not making any more predictions. They're so horribly wrong, why do I bother?

Catania - Lazio: the gory details

I sat down today and watched Catania - Lazio. Here's a point-by-point breakdown of what went wrong. The links will take you to video clips of the goals.

Catania 0-0 Lazio (32')
Grande Peruzzi! He comes off his line and clears away a point blank header that was going in otherwise. The rebound was risky, but able to be cleared by the defense.

Catania 1-0 Lazio (36')
Peruzzi had no chance at this one. It is hard to lay blame anywhere, but I would point at the center defense of Lazio. Catania made a perfect cross, but the back four shouldn't allow those kind of balls to find the heads of attackers. When they are allowed to go through unchecked, this is what happens: the goalie is flatfooted and the ball is in the back of the net.

Catania 2-0 Lazio (45')
Everyone knew that Massimo Oddo's disqualification would haunt Lazio sooner or later. This was the play when it happened. Belleri seems unaware of the position of his mark, and when the cross is made he is simply beat off of the line. Peruzzi shouldn't have to defend shots like this either. Oddo probably would have had a better handle on this situation and prevented a goal.

Catania 3-0 Lazio (50')
An unfortunate bounce for Lazio. Peruzzi bit on the first shot attempt (as he had to, since he couldn't presume it would be blocked). The rebound came directly to Colucci who had an empty net in front of him. The English commentators noted that a younger goaltender might have made a play on the second ball and that Peruzzi's age kept him on the ground. I don't think that's true, considering how nimble we've seen him be in other occasions.

Catania 3-1 Lazio (56')
Really, Lazio didn't even earn this goal. They weren't putting much pressure on and the ball was played back by Catania's defense right onto Rocchi's foot. Fortunate, but not skillful.

Catania 3-2 Lazio?? Nope.
Massimo Mutarelli controlled a pass inside the box with a wide open look at the net, but called himself offsides despite the fact that the flag didn't go up. If he had taken the shot, the last ten minutes of the match could have been very different. His hesitation allowed Catania's defense to regroup and stop the chance.



Overall, Lazio suffered from the same things that have plagued them all season. The midfield looks very weak. Any time the ball was between the boxes it was in Catania's possession or Lazio was in the defensive half of the field and struggling to avoid a turnover. Lazio's only forward movement through the midfield was through long balls, which did nothing to set up Rocchi and even less for Pandev. The defense was solid for 30 minutes, but under such constant pressure it was only a matter of time before they caved. The final result was indicative of their overall play.

23 October 2006

Catania 3-1 Lazio: closed out

OK, I haven't had a chance to watch the travesty that was Catania - Lazio. I have it recorded and will probably steel myself to sit down and watch it sometime tonight. As such, I don't have any analysis (yet). So expect a recap tomorrow morning (US time) and a Samp preview tomorrow afternoon? That sounds manageable. Until then, what have the biancocelesti had to say about this horrible result?

Delio Rossi

Fatico a trovare una giustificazione alla prestazione di oggi, abbiamo fatto male in tutti i settori, non siamo mai entrati in partita, il Catania ha giocato meglio di noi e ha meritato di vincere. Non so se abbiamo pagato il fatto che si sia giocato a porte chiuse, non credo perché la stessa cosa valeva per il Catania. Siamo stati troppo brutti per essere veri, mi auguro che sia stato solo un episodio.
"I'm trying to find a reason for today's performance; we did poorly in every respect, we were never in the match, Catania played better than us and deserved to win. I don't know if we payed because of the fact that (the match) was played behind closed doors, but I don't think Catania was strong because of that either. We were too bad for it to be true, but I think that it was only an isolated incident."

Massimo Oddo
E' stata una brutta partita; restare a -1 dà fastidio, ma non bisogna buttarsi giù. C'è tutto il tempo per recuperare. Ci sono partite che nascono male e finiscono anche peggio. E' stata una brutta domenica, questo è vero, purtroppo ci è andato tutto storto.
"It was an ugly match; it's troublesome to stay at -1 points, but there's no need to get down about it. There is plenty of time to recover. There are games that start bad and finish worse. It was an ugly Sunday, that is true, unfortunately it went all wrong."

20 October 2006

Catania - Lazio preview

Catania (5 pts, 11th place)
vs.
Lazio (-1 pt, 18th place)
15:00 CET (9:00 AM EDT) Sun, Oct 22
behind closed doors at
Stadio Via del Mare, Lecce

US TV: FSC (live)

Lazio is in for a tricky match as they head to an empty ground at Lecce to face Catania. The game, whose site has been moved twice now, is being played at a neutral site after Catania was handed a two-match home stadium ban for improper actions by their fans at their September 23 derby against Messina.

Catania has not fared well since their opening match of the season when they defeated Cagliari 1-0, but that does not mean Lazio shouldn't be concerned. The empty stadium will be an uncomfortable atmosphere for both squads, and could affect Lazio's play just as much as Catania's. Additionally, Lazio will be playing with a depleted squad. Massimo Oddo will be out, serving the first half of his two-match disqualification after sharing harsh words with the linesman at the end of last week's match with Cagliari. On Friday, there was more bad news from Formello, Lazio's practice site. Tommaso Rocchi did not practice due to a problem with his right thigh, and is listed as questionable for Sunday. If he is unable to play, Igli Tare will start in his place at forward. As such, the Lazio lineup is looking like this:

Peruzzi
Belleri-Siviglia-Stendardo-Zauri
Manfredini-Baronio-Mudingayi-Mauri
Pandev-Tare

Pasquale Foggia has recovered from his minor injury and will probably replace Mauri or Manfredini in the second half. Expect a scrappy game with the Sicilians that could go either way.

Prediction: Catania 0-1 Lazio. Goal by Igli, maybe?

17 October 2006

Oddo, Peruzzi, and Behrami: the future

There is news today about three of the most important players wearing the biancocelesti jersey and when they will be available to play.

Oddo has been given a two-match ban after his expulsion in the chaotic end of the match against Cagliari. The additional ban seems harsh, especially considering the fact that the match had degraded so much so quickly in the last few minutes. I'm confident that Oddo deserves one match for whatever he said to the linesman, but to give him a two-match ban seems to say that the horrendous officiating should have been merely endured, not hotly protested.

Peruzzi has issued a new statement regarding an earlier report that he plans to retire at the end of the season:

[C'è] solo una battuta fatta con Marchegiani ed è stato dato troppo clamore. C'é un accordo con il presidente Lotito di parlare del mio futuro anno per anno e, visto che ho un contratto fino al 2008, ne parleremo a maggio del 2007
"It was only a causal remark that I made to Marchegiani and it has been given too much attention. There is an agreement with president Lotito to talk about my future year by year and, seeing as I am under contract until 2008, we will talk in May 2007." Peruzzi certainly has the right to decide the appropriate time to hang up the boots, but it is good to hear that he hasn't made a snap decision on the matter.

Behrami is reported to be back on the pitch in practice after having completed the course of physical therapy for his ankle injury. He is now expected to be back in competitive play in November, a month sooner than previously thought. Good news for Lazio's midfield, which has gone through so many lineup changes and mediocre performances here at the start of the season.

16 October 2006

Lazio 0-0 Cagliari: hey arbitro!


Lazio had a bitter ending to a very strange game and left the Olimpico with one point after a scoreless draw with Cagliari on Sunday evening. The score continued one streak and ended another: it was Lazio's fourth consecutive clean sheet, but was also the first time that the biancocelesti failed to score a goal since their 0-0 draw with Milan at the Olimpico last February.

After a dull first few minutes, Lazio began to put on the attack and look strong early. Rocchi went down in the area in the 10th minute and earned the penalty shot. Rossi sent Oddo to the spot to put home one of his trademark penalty shots...but another streak was about to be broken. Despite the fact that the Cagliari keeper Chimenti guessed to his right early, Oddo still put a low ball in that direction, and the attempt was blocked. It ended Massimo's streak of 14 consecutive PKs made in competitive matches (both for Lazio and for the azzurri).

Lazio came off of the missed penalty a bit downtrodden and did not look very solid for the next 25 minutes or so. The attack began to pick up steam again around the 40th minute, and Lazio got some corner kick and free kick chances. One minute of stoppage was added and just at the 45 minute mark, Lazio was charging again and earned a free kick in a good position outside the box. But the Cagliari players crowded around the ball and stalled the attempt. Before the 46 minute mark arrived, the referee blew the whistle for half time! Lazio was rightly furious, but their protestations were for naught.

In the second half, Cagliari decided to hunker down and fight to maintain the draw and earn 1 point. For almost the entire 45 minutes they kept at least eight men in the defensive zone and were able to stifle Lazio's attacks. Even when Lazio could move upfield, the best they could achieve would be something like a 6 on 8 attack, unless they earned a foul or corner and were able to bring more men forward on the set piece.

It appeared that the match would end quitely as a dull 0-0 draw, but in the 90th minute Cagliari sub Joe Bizera was given a straight red card out of nowhere for a foul on Zauri. Upon further review, it looked like Bizera actually got a touch on the ball and that the call shouldn't have merited even a whistle, much less a yellow or red! At that point, all control over the match was lost. The entire Cagliari squad swarmed the official to express their rightful anger, and Daniele Conti also saw immediate red for what were obviously some choice words.

Lazio earned an opportunity to perhaps find a quick winning goal, suddenly two man ahead, but the free kick they earned from the non-foul didn't yield a good play and the ball was cleared. Massimo Oddo chased after and was fouled fairly obviously, but there was no whistle! Oddo yelled from the turf and then got up to confront the linesman, who was closest to the incident. He too must have said some very harsh words, because as the play continued downfield the whistle was blown on him. After a conference between the linesman and the head official, Oddo too saw red. The Olimpico erupted in whistles and boos. (The crowd had already booed the previous cards, as they realized that they were overly harsh, and of course was even more upset against the call against the home side.) The match wasn't complete without another yellow dealt to Lazio, for a week foul. The match ended with both sides accosting the referee as he headed for the tunnel after 5 minutes of stoppage time. A bitter end left Lazio 2 points shy of their expectations and down their star captain for next week's match with Catania.

13 October 2006

Lazio - Cagliari preview

Lazio (-2 pts, 17th place)
vs.
Cagliari (3 pts, 13th place)
20:30 CET (2:30 PM EDT) Sun, Oct 15
Stadio Olimpico, Roma


US TV: FSC (live)

Lazio return home to the Olimpico after a week off and seek to enter positive figures with a win against the Sardinians on Sunday. While the rest of the club was resting and preparing for this game, Massimo Oddo and Stefano Mauri played another game at the Olimpico with the azzurri against Ukraine. In that game, Oddo scored his first goal for the national squad, as Roberto Donadoni rightly chose him to take a penalty shot for Italy.

Back in Rome for Lazio, the revolving door of injuries continues. Angelo Peruzzi has recovered from his wrist injury and will be in goal. But while he recovered, Siviglia developed muscle spasms in his leg and Foggia injured his left knee. These seem to be minor injuries and they should be available in a couple of weeks. Mutarelli is also back practicing regularly but will start the day on the bench.

As for Catania, despite coming off of two strong draws against at Siena and home against Inter, they are in trouble for Sunday's match. They also are experiencing injury problems and have lost one of their forwards, David Suazo, to national team duty for his native Honduras. With their attack weakened, Lazio's back four should be able hold even with the loss of Siviglia. If Peruzzi is truly back in form, Lazio will have a good chance at putting up its fourth straight clean sheet. If the midfield can generate chances, Rocchi and Pandev should have good opportunities against the Cagliari back line which will have at least two substitute players.

Projected lineup for Lazio:

Peruzzi
Oddo-Cribari-Stendardo-Zauri
Manfredini-Baronio*-Ledesma-Mauri
Pandev-Rocchi

*Gazzetta.it has information that Baronio will start in place of Mudingayi (as purely a coaching decision on Rossi's part). I find this slightly dubious, but we will see when the match starts.

Prediction: Lazio 2-0 Cagliari, a goal for Rocchi and a goal for a midfielder

05 October 2006

State of the blog

In case you hadn't noticed, my post frequency has dropped dramatically, as I feared it would when I first started writing here. I don't know if I'm getting burned out on the whole blogging deal, or whether I'm not keeping quite as minute tabs on the everyday happenings of Lazio, or whether other factors and distractions in my life are just taking precedence. Furthermore, I do run a traffic statistics program on the site and, to be honest, the numbers are a little bit depressing. To the seven of you who keep coming back (Kerry, Alicen, Andrew, the two of you from England, the one from Singapore, and the one from Turkey): thank you. I hope you don't take it as an insult if I feel like putting lots of effort into writing articles that get seen by so few may not be the best investment of my time.

There is a bit of a lull in the Lazio world as Serie A takes a break for Euro 2008 qualifying matches. As such, I'm going to use it as a good time for me to take a break from posting. Don't expect anything until next Friday or so, when it's time to get ready for Lazio - Cagliari. Hopefully then I can get excited again about posting here every day with timely news. When I restart the blog, if you few can help by getting other people to read, I'd really appreciate it. If not, I will still try to do it for myself and for you, but I make no promises. So until then, FORZA LAZIO!

03 October 2006

Donadoni calls Oddo, Mauri; 3 other Laziali to their respective teams

In preparation for the third and fourth matchdays of Euro 2008 qualifying, azzurri coach Roberto Donadoni has called up Massimo Oddo and Stefano Mauri to serve on the national team. Seeing Oddo at least on the bench if not on the pitch for the azzurri is no surprise, but it's great to see that Mauri may be given a chance to play on the international stage. Tommaso Rocchi was not called up, and although Donadoni's choices for strikers don't seem too strong, the decision is reasonable since Rocchi did not prove himself the last time he got to wear the blue jersey.

Three other biancocelesti also were called to serve their respective nations: Goran Pandev with Macedonia, Gabi Mudingayi with Belgium, and Igli Tare with Albania. Since many teams are losing several players to national team duty, there is no Serie A play scheduled for this weekend.

Below is the full team roster for the azzurri, as well as the match times for all the games that Laziali will be participating in:

Gli Azzurri

Goalkeepers: Christian Abbiati (Torino), Marco Amelia (Livorno), Gianluigi Buffon (Juve)

Defenders: Andrea Barzagli and Cristian Zaccardo (Palermo), Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid), Fabio Grosso and Marco Materazzi (Inter), Alessandro Nesta (Milan), Massimo Oddo (Lazio), Manuel Pasqual (Fiorentina), Gianluca Zambrotta (Barcellona)

Midfielders: Mauro Camoranesi (Juve), Gennaro Delvecchio (Samp), Daniele De Rossi and Simone Perrotta (Roma Merda), Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo (Milan), Stefano Mauri (Lazio)

Forwards: Alessandro Del Piero (Juve), David Di Michele (Palermo), Antonio Di Natale and Vincenzo Iaquinta (Udinese), Filippo Inzaghi (Milan), Luca Toni (Fiorentina)

Match times

Italy - Ukraine, 20:50 CET (4:50 PM EDT) Sat, Oct 7. Stadio Olimpico, Rome.
US TV: Rai International, Setanta (live); Telemundo (delay 4:00 PM EDT)

Georgia - Italy, 22:00 MSD (2:00 PM EDT) Wed, Oct 11. Boris Paichadze Stadium, Tbilisi
US TV: Setanta (live)

For other match times see the UEFA fixtures listing.

Torino 0-4 Lazio: the attack awakened

If you missed the first half of Saturday's match between Lazio and Torino, don't worry. You didn't miss anything. If you missed the second half, you missed the most impressive scoring blitz that Lazio has put on in recent memory.

The first half does merit some comment. Lazio's play looked like it did in the past few games. The defense didn't cave but the offense was unable to generate any good chances. Long passes ahead were invariably off target or the play was offside (Rocchi, in typical form, had the flag raised on him five times). On the defensive end, the back four kept containment but weren't looking great. They were lucky that most of Torino's shots sailed well wide, but most times that Lazio challenged for possession they played the ball over the back line, giving Torino a 5 to 2 edge on corners in the first half.

Coming out for the second half, it looked like the game could go scoreless for another 45 minutes, or that one side might be able to just crack the other's defense and pull off a 1-0 victory. Lazio did just that when Pandev was able to fight for the ball in the box and prolong the scoring chance, sending the ball out to Mudingayi who made a perfect feed to Rocchi. Tommaso blasted away at point-blank range and Abbiati's save attempt was in vain as the ball trickled into the corner of the goal.

That could have been the end of the scoring, but Lazio kept pouring on the attack. Stendardo got a head on a nice cross and put it off the bar. Rocchi was able to catch his man off guard and get tripped up inside the box. Oddo converted the PK perfectly for 0-2. (The FSC commentator said that Oddo has converted 19 of his last 21 PKs, which I haven't confirmed, but sounds right. He does not miss those.) Lazio kept pressing, and Oddo managed to take an outside shot that got a lucky deflection for 0-3. Mauri put the icing on the cake with a putback off of Abbiati's save from a great angle shot by Rocchi. Simple descriptions don't really do the intensity of the Lazio attack justice, so here are the video highlights:



All in all the match bodes well for Lazio's offense, which was struggling and has suffered the further blow of the injury to Makinwa. The defense held tough, recording its third consecutive(!) clean sheet.