Keita gives Lazio the advantage
Lazio manage to win thanks to Keita, but will it be enough?
Also on this day: August 18, 1982, Lazio Perugia 3-2 Coppa Italia. Returning for his first game with Lazio since 1980, Giordano leads the charge as the Biancocelesti beat Perugia from 0-2 down. Player of the day Michele De Nadai
The season so far
The previous season had seen Lazio arrive third and qualify for a Champions League playoff. It was a great year and Lazio played really well so there was hope that it could be repeated.
The summer transfer window however was not what the fans had hoped for. A few of the older players were let go, so Lazio said goodbye to Cristian Ledesma, Lorik Cana, Diego Novaretti and Michael Ciani plus the younger ones who had disappointed such as Pedro Cavanda and Brayan Perea. In came Wesley Hoedt, Riccardo Kishna, Patric and a young Serb, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
The first game of the season was in August, the Super Coppa against Juventus, played in Shanghai. No contest and Lazio were beaten 2-0 on an appalling pitch. Lazio’s form was pretty terrible but the focus was on the Champions League playoff against Bayer Leverkusen.
The match: Tuesday, August 18, 2015, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Lazio needed to win and possibly close the qualification at the Olimpico tonight and the crowd tried to push Lazio into attack. In the 6th minute Senad Lulic had a chance in the box on the left but his shot was deflected into corner. With Eddy Onazi and Felipe Anderson not helping out Dusan Basta, in the 23rd the Germans had a chance to score on the right. Karim Bellarabi dribbled past Basta but from a couple of metres out shot into the stands. In the 26th minute with a shot from outside the box Lars Bender hit the woodwork. On the counter attack, a great ball from Felipe Anderson to Miro Klose who dribbled past the keeper but then went too far and when he tried a shot, he hit the post from an impossible angle. In the dying stages of the first half Hakan Çalhanoğlu tried the goal of the century with a shot from his own half in an attempt to surprise Etrit Berisha, but the ball went out.
Bad news in the interval. Klose had to throw in the towel due to injury. Stefano Pioli was forced to send in Keita Balde as centre forward. Lazio continued to attack but during the second half they ran out of energy. Çalhanoğlu forced Berisha to parry with his fists, Keita had a chance in front of the keeper but he tried to anticipate him and his shot went over the crossbar. In the 64th minute Admir Mehmedi shaved the post with a shot from inside the box. Keita had another chance when Felipe Anderson went off on the right and put a splendid ball for the Hispano-Senegalese who tried a shot but Bernd Leno saved.
In the 77th minute Keita took advantage of a Kyriakos Papadopoulos mistake and ran forward. Nobody could stop him and once inside the box he placed the ball in the back of the net.
Lazio could have scored again but Felipe Anderson instead of passing the ball to Antonio Candreva decided to go for the shot which Leno parried.
Good game and good win, but Lazio had too many injuries in the wrong moment. Will the single goal be enough to reach the Champions League group stage?
Who played for Lazio
Berisha, Basta, de Vrij (92’ Gentiletti), Mauricio, Lulic, Onazi (52’ Milinkovic-Savic), Biglia, Parolo, Candreva, Felipe Anderson, Klose (46’ Keita)
Manager: Pioli
Who played for Bayer Leverkusen
Leno, Hilbert, Tah, Papadopoulos, Wendell, Bellarabi, Bender, Kramer, Son (46' Mehmedi), Çalhanoğlu (84' Brandt), Kiessling (93' Kruse)
Substitutes: Kresic, Ramalha, Aranguiz, Donati
Manager: Schimdt
Referee: Eriksson
Goal: 77’ Keita
What happened next
The return match against Bayer Leverkusen was a defensive nightmare. Pioli decided to “experiment” a 3-4-3 formation instead of the classic 4-4-2. As a consequence, Lazio lost 3-0 so they were relegated to Europa League.
Things went relatively well there and Lazio went through to the second round after winning their group against Dnipro, Saint Etienne and Rosenborg. In Coppa Italia however the Biancocelesti were eliminated. After beating Udinese, they lost to Juventus again in the quarter-finals.
One could see immediately that Lazio were having problems and they were not playing as well as 2013-14. Narrow wins and big defeats (4-0 against Chievo, 5-0 against Napoli), players who were not performing as well as the previous year (Felipe Anderson for example) or other fundamental pieces that Lazio lost through injury (Stefan de Vrij) all led to a disappointing season.
A season which seemed basically over when Lazio collected only two points in seven games between the end of October and mid-December. Then things changed. Lazio won in Milan against Inter just before Christmas, played a horrible goalless game with Carpi at home in the first game of 2016 but then beat Fiorentina away and came back from two nil down to draw at Bologna. They then beat Sassuolo but the return to form was short-lived. Disappointing goalless draws away from home at Udine, Genoa and Frosinone, the usual loss against Napoli and an unusual one at home against Sassuolo really meant that a European Cup qualification was too far away.
To make matters worse was the incredible elimination from the Europa League. Lazio had played really well in Europe and after the group stage had to play against Galatasaray in February. An away 1-1 and a comfortable 3-1 win at home put them through. Next up was Sparta Prague. There was optimism after drawing the away leg 1-1. And then the debacle that nobody expected. Lazio lost 3-0 at home. A collapse.
The inconsistency and bad form of some of the players came to a culmination with the 4-1 loss in the derby two weeks later. Lazio actually did not play too badly and were unlucky, hitting the woodwork twice when they were 2-1 down.
President Claudio Lotito decided that it was time for a change and sacked Pioli. Simone Inzaghi, former player of the 2000 scudetto, had already been helped considerably by Lazio in his career as a manager. The club really believed in his abilities and had given him various youth teams in order to gain experience. The time was ripe for the big jump and he took charge
A good start with two consecutive wins and a few tactical changes before a defeat in Turin against Juventus and one against Sampdoria where Lazio had a million chances to win.
Goodbye to Europe and goodbye to Miro Klose who made his last appearance for Lazio against Fiorentina in the last game of the season. Lazio had no intention of renewing his contract and it did not seem that he was interested in continuing.
Lazio 2015-16
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals scored |
Serie A | 38 | 15 | 9 | 14 | 52 |
Coppa Italia | 2 | 1 | - | 1 | 2 |
Champions League | 2 | 1 | - | 1 | 1 |
Europa League | 10 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 18 |
Super Coppa | 1 | - | - | 1 | - |
Total | 53 | 22 | 13 | 18 | 73 |
Top five appearances
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions League | Europa League | Super Coppa |
Felipe Anderson | 47 | 35 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 1 |
Candreva | 44 | 30 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 1 |
Parolo | 40 | 31 | - | 2 | 7 | - |
Keita Balde | 39 | 31 | 1 | 2 | 5 | - |
Lulic | 39 | 30 | 1 | 2 | 6 | - |
Top five goal scorers
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Europa League |
Candreva | 12 | 10 | - | 2 |
Felipe Anderson | 9 | 7 | - | 2 |
Klose | 8 | 7 | - | 1 |
Matri | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
Parolo | 6 | 3 | - | 3 |
Djordjevic | 6 | 3 | - | 3 |
What happened in Serie A 2015-16
The previous season Juventus had easily won the scudetto with 17 points on Roma.
For the 2015-16 campionato there were a few manager changes: Milan chose Sinisa Mihajlovic, Napoli Maurizio Sarri while the other big clubs confirmed the previous year’s head coaches. As far as transfers were concerned, the most important were Paulo Dybala, Mario Mandzukic and Sami Khedira to Juve, Mohamed Salah and Edin Dzeko to Roma, Ivan Perisic to Inter, Carlos Bacca to Milan and Allan to Napoli.
Juventus were favourites but Roma looked very dangerous on paper.
August
The Super Coppa was held in Shanghai on an awful pitch on August 8. Juventus comfortably beat Lazio 2-0 and won the trophy.
In the play-off round of the Champions League Lazio were eliminated by Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 on aggregate. The Biancocelesti would now play the Europa League.
In the first rounds of Coppa Italia most of the bigger clubs went forward with the exception of Bologna, surprisingly beaten by Pavia.
First two games of Serie A and Juventus lost both games, at home to Chievo and away to Roma. Very surprising to find Juve on zero points.
Chievo 6, Torino 6, Inter 6, Sassuolo 6, Palermo 6, Sampdoria 4, Roma, 4, Atalanta 3, Genoa 3, Fiorentina 3, Udinese 3, Milan 3, Lazio 3, Napoli 1, Verona 1, Bologna 0, Juventus 0, Empoli 0, Frosinone 0, Carpi 0
September
Inter won the derby, Napoli thrashed Lazio 5-0 and beat a struggling Juventus. Fiorentina won in Milan against Inter and now led.
In the group stage of the Champions League, Juventus won away at Manchester City and at home against Sevilla. Roma drew at home with Barcelona but surprisingly lost 3-2 to Bate Borisov. In Europa League Napoli thrashed Club Brugge 5-0, Lazio drew away with Dnipro and Fiorentina lost at home with Basel.
Fiorentina 15, Inter 15, Torino 13, Sassuolo 12, Lazio 12, Roma 11, Chievo 11, Atalanta 11, Sampdoria 10, Napoli 9, Milan 9, Palermo 7, Udinese 6, Genoa 6, Juventus 5, Frosinone 4, Empoli 4, Verona 3, Bologna 3, Carpi 2
October
The big matches of October saw Napoli win 4-0 in Milan while Inter and Juve drew. Roma now in command after beating Fiorentina away. Behind Bologna, Verona and Carpi needed to start getting points.
In the Champions League, Juventus drew at home with Borussia Mönchengladbach but still led their group with 7 points, one more than Manchester City and +4 on Sevilla. Roma drew 4-4 with Bayer Leverkusen in a topsy-turvy match (the Germans were up 2-0 and then 4-2 down). Barcelona topped this group with 7 points, Bayer had 4, Bate Borisov 3 and Roma last with 2 points.
In the Europa League Napoli beat both Legia Warsaw and Midtjylland and topped their group with 9 points followed by Midtjylland on 6, Legia and Brugge 1. Lazio beat both Saint-Etienne and Rosenburg and lead their group with 7 points, followed by Saint-Etienne and Dnipro with 4, Rosenburg last on 1. Fiorentina won away at Belenenses but lost at home with Lech Poznan. The table read Basel 6 points, Lech & Belenenses 4, Viola 3.
Roma 23, Napoli 21, Fiorentina 21, Inter 21, Sassuolo 18, Lazio 18, Atalanta 17, Milan 16, Sampdoria 15, Torino 15, Chievo 12, Juventus 12, Empoli 11, Palermo 11, Genoa 11, Udinese 11, Frosinone 10, Bologna 6, Verona 5, Carpi 5
November
Juventus started to climb, winning the derby and beating Milan, Inter won against Roma, who won the derby, and Milan crushed Lazio away. Napoli won at home against Inter and overtook them to lead Serie A. Bologna had managed to pull themselves up a bit and were now very close to Frosinone while Carpi and Verona were still lagging behind.
In the Champions League, Juventus drew with Borussia Mönchengladbach but beat Manchester City hence qualifying for the knock-out stage. They needed just one more point to qualify top in their group. Roma beat Bayer Leverkusen but then collapsed at Barcelona losing 6-1, but the Germans did not go beyond drawing with Bate Borisov. Barcelona were already through and first, followed by Bayer and Roma on 5 but Roma had a better score against Bayer hence in a joint finish it would be the Giallorossi to go through. And Bayer needed to face Barcelona …
In Europa League Napoli won their two games and now were certain to qualify for the Round of 32. Lazio did the same whereas for Fiorentina it was a little more complicated. They beat Lech Poznan and drew with Basel, both away, and were on 7 points, two more than Lech and Belenenses. One more point needed to qualify.
Napoli 31, Inter 30, Fiorentina 29, Roma 27, Juventus 24, Sassuolo 23, Milan 23, Torino 21, Atalanta 21, Lazio 19, Udinese 18, Empoli 18, Chievo 16, Sampdoria 16, Genoa 16, Palermo 15, Frosinone 14, Bologna 13, Carpi 9, Verona 5
December
Juventus continued their ascent by beating Lazio in Rome and Fiorentina at home. Napoli and Roma drew, Inter lost at home with Lazio but closed the year top. Bologna were now out of the relegation zone. Verona could not seem to move from last place.
Juventus threw away the top spot in their Champions League group by losing to Sevilla in the last game. They would now have to meet Bayern Munich in the Round of 16. Roma drew with Bate Borisov and so did Bayer Leverkusen against Barcelona so it was the Giallorossi to go through to the next phase where they would meet Real Madrid.
Napoli, Lazio and Fiorentina all qualified for the Europa League Round of 32. They would be playing with Villareal, Galatasaray and Tottenham respectively.
No big surprises in the fourth round of the Coppa Italia with all the bigger teams going forward. In the Round of 16 however, there were a few big exits. Genoa lost at home to Alessandria, Roma were eliminated by Spezia on penalties and Fiorentina lost at home to Carpi. Inter, Napoli, Juventus, Lazio and Milan qualified.
Inter 36, Fiorentina 35, Napoli 35, Juventus 33, Roma 32, Milan 28, Sassuolo 27, Empoli 27, Atalanta 24, Lazio 23, Chievo 22, Torino 22, Udinese 21, Sampdoria 20, Bologna 19, Palermo 18, Genoa 16, Frosinone 14, Carpi 10, Verona 8
January
Roma and Milan drew, Inter won the derby, but Juventus could not stop winning and were now second after beating the Giallorossi. There was a long way to go but it looked as if Verona, Carpi and Frosinone were the prime candidates for relegation. Roma changed manager. Rudi Garcia was sacked and in came Luciano Spalletti.
In the Coppa Italia quarter finals, Milan beat Carpi, Alessandria won at Spezia with two late goals, Inter and Juventus won away to Napoli and Lazio. In the first legs of the semi-finals, Milan won at Alessandria and Juventus, after crushing Inter 3-0 in Turin, already had a foot in the final.
Napoli 50, Juventus 48, Fiorentina 42, Inter 41, Roma 38, Milan 36, Sassuolo 33, Lazio 32, Empoli 32, Bologna 29, Torino 27, Chievo 27, Atalanta 27, Palermo 25, Udinese 25, Genoa 24, Sampdoria 23, Carpi 19, Frosinone 16, Verona 11
February
By beating Napoli at home and winning their 15th game in a row, Juventus overtook the Neapolitans and were now top of Serie A. They then drew at Bologna but Napoli also drew at home with Milan. But the lead was then extended when Juve beat Inter at home and Napoli drew in Florence.
In the Champions League Round of 16, Roma unsurprisingly lost 2-0 at home to Real Madrid. Juventus, who were losing 2-0 at home with Bayern Munich, managed to draw but it would be tough to win in Germany.
In the Europa League, only Lazio qualified. Fiorentina drew the first leg with Tottenham 1-1 but then collapsed 3-0 in London. Napoli lost away to Villareal and drew 1-1 at home. Lazio instead drew away with Galatasaray and won 3-1 at home to qualify for the Round of 16.
Juventus 61, Napoli 58, Roma 53, Fiorentina 53, Inter 48, Milan 47, Sassuolo 41, Lazio 37, Bologna 35, Chievo 34, Empoli 34, Torino 32, Atalanta 30, Udinese 30, Genoa 28, Sampdoria 28, Palermo 27, Frosinone 23, Carpi 21, Verona 18
March
Roma beat Fiorentina and drew with Inter and Juve continued to have a three-point lead over Napoli. Carpi managed to catch Palermo giving themselves hope. Frosinone were only one point behind whereas we could safely say that Verona were already in Serie B.
Both Roma and Juventus were eliminated in the Champions League. Roma were beaten 2-0 in Madrid too, Juve had managed to overturn the result and were winning 2-1 but Bayern Munich managed to equalise in injury time and the Bianconeri then lost 4-2 in extra time.
After drawing 1-1 away to Sparta Prague in Europa League Lazio collapsed 3-0 at home and were eliminated.
In the second leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final, Milan thrashed Alessandria 5-0 whereas Inter, after having lost the first game 3-0 in Turin, incredibly forced Juventus to penalty shoot-out but then lost 5-3.
Juventus 70, Napoli 67, Roma 60, Fiorentina 55, Inter 55, Milan 49, Sassuolo 45, Lazio 42, Chievo 38, Bologna 36, Empoli 36, Genoa 34, Torino 33, Atalanta 33, Sampdoria 32, Udinese 31, Carpi 28, Palermo 28, Frosinone 27, Verona 19
April
Juventus continued to win and extended their lead to +12 as Napoli lost at Udine plus to Inter and Roma. The Bianconeri beat Milan away, Roma won the derby and Lazio sacked Stefano Pioli. He was replaced by Simone Inzaghi. Milan also changed hands: from Mihajlovic to Cristian Brocchi. Juventus needed just one more point to win the scudetto. With three games to go, Frosinone and Verona were practically in Serie B. The other position would be fought out by Udinese, Carpi and Palermo.
Juventus 85, Napoli 73, Roma 71, Inter 64, Fiorentina 59, Milan 53, Sassuolo 52, Chievo 48, Lazio 48, Genoa 43, Torino 42, Empoli 42, Atalanta 41, Sampdoria 40, Bologna 40, Udinese 38, Carpi 35, Palermo 32, Frosinone 30, Verona 25
May
Juve beat Carpi and won the scudetto with two games to go. No battle for the Champions League positions as Roma and Napoli were miles ahead of Inter.
The fight to stay in Serie A saw Palermo beat Sampdoria and catch Carpi who lost to Juve. Frosinone could have been part of the battle but drew against Milan despite being 3-1 up 15 minutes from time. Two games to go.
In the penultimate match, Carpi lost at home to Lazio and were overtaken by Palermo who drew in Florence. In the last game they both won meaning that Carpi joined Frosinone and Verona in Serie B.
In the Coppa Italia final Juventus beat Milan in extra time with a goal by Alvaro Morata.
Champions League qualifiers: Juventus, Napoli, Roma
Europa League: Inter, Fiorentina, Sassuolo
Relegated to Serie B: Carpi, Frosinone, Verona
Promoted to Serie A: Cagliari, Crotone, Pescara
Top scorer: Gonzalo Higuain 36 goals (record number of goals in Serie A)
Final table: Juventus 91, Napoli 82, Roma 80, Inter 67, Fiorentina 64, Sassuolo 61, Milan 57, Lazio 54, Chievo 50, Empoli 46, Genoa 46, Torino 45, Atalanta 45, Bologna 42, Sampdoria 40, Palermo 39, Udinese 39, Carpi 38, Frosinone 31, Verona 28
Sources
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