August 5, 2017: Malaga-Lazio 0-1, friendly
- Dag Jenkins
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
7 on 7 in Andalusia
Lazio win their 7th and last summer friendly before the big Juventus clash
The season so far
Lazio had finished 5th (EL) the previous season under Simone Inzaghi. The Biancocelesti had lost the first derby but triumphed 3-1 in the second. Other good results were Atalanta 4-3, Pescara 6-2 both away, Sampdoria 7-3 and Palermo 6-2 both at home. Lazio had also reached the Coppa Italia final beating Roma in the semi-final 4-3 on aggregate but then lost to Juventus 0-2. Top scorer was Ciro Immobile with 26 goals (23 in A).
This season Inzaghi was still manager but there had been quite a few changes to the squad. The main new arrivals were: defenders Luiz Felipe (Salernitana - end of loan), Adam Marušić (Oostende), midfielders Davide Di Gennaro (free agent), Lucas Leiva (Liverpool) and later on Nani (Valencia - on loan with an option to buy), forwards Felipe Caicedo (Espanyol) and Pedro Neto (Braga - two-year loan with the obligation to buy).
Leaving amongst others were: midfielders Lucas Biglia (Milan) and Danilo Cataldi (Benevento - on loan). Forward Keita Baldé (Monaco) and defender Wesley Hoedt (Southampton) would also leave soon.
Today was Lazio's 7th and last summer friendly. The previous had been a 16-0 win over locals Auronzo, a 9-1 against Top 11 Radio Club 103 (Cadore Top 11), Triestina 3-0, SPAL 2-0, Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 and Kufstein 13-1. Lazio's objective was to be match fit for their first big appointment of the season; the Supercoppa against Juventus on August 13 in Rome.
Serie A would start a week later on August 20, at home against SPAL.
Málaga had finished 11th in the Spanish Liga under former Real Madrid legend Michel.
This season Michel stayed on. The captain was Recio while an interesting player was Moroccan forward Youssef En-Nesyri. The Spanish league would start on August 18.
The main new players were: goalkeeper Roberto (Espanyol - on loan), defenders Diego Gonzalez (Sevilla) and Paul Baysse (Nice), midfielder Adrián (Eibar) and forward Diego Rolán (Bordeaux - on loan).
Leaving were: goalkeeper Carlos Kameni (Fenerbahçe), defenders Martin Demichelis (retiring), Weligton (retiring, after 217 league games), Diego Llorente (Real Sociedad), midfielder Ignacio Camacho (Wolfsburg, after 199 games), forwards Sandro (Everton), Charles (Eibar) and Pablo Fornals (Villarreal).
A decent test against Liga opposition for undefeated Lazio.
The match: Saturday, August 5, 2017, La Rosaleda, Malaga
A crowd of 10,000 showed up at La Rosaleda for this Costa del Sol Trophy 20.30 kick-off.
Lazio had most players available, the only players not ready were defender Luiz Felipe, midfielder Felipe Anderson and forward Felipe Caicedo.
In the first 15-20 minutes the hosts put Lazio in some difficulty with their very tight 4-1-4-1 set up. The Spaniards played with Zravko Kuzmanovic as low playmaker and Álex Mula and Roberto Rosales combined well on the right flank.
After about 20 minutes however Marco Parolo pushed further upfield to face Kuzmanovic and things improved.
In the 34th minute Stefan Radu was forced off injured and replaced by Bastos (suspended for the Supercoppa).
Malaga then increased the pressure and after a few scrambles had their best chance yet. A long cross by Juankar found Adrian unmarked but the number 8 managed to hit Thomas Strakosha who parried. The Madrid-born midfielder should have scored.
Just before halftime Keita Balde stirred and surged down the left wing but his cross-goal shot came back off the post, 0-0 at the break.
There were no changes for the second half.
In the 55th minute Lazio took the lead. The assist was by Lucas Leiva whose through ball was lobbed over the keeper by Ciro Immobile with a deflection by defender Juankar.
On the hour mark both sides made three substitutions each, for Lazio off came Adam Marusic, Leiva and Senad Lulic and on came Dušan Basta, Luis Alberto and Jordan Lukaku. The Spanish changes included bringing on danger man Youssef En-Nesyri.
Lazio's goal and the changes led to a period of sustained pressure by the Malagueños. The locals piled up the corners but only had one real big chance but Recio was off target from a favourable position.
With fifteen minutes to go Malaga made seven more substitutions while Lazio made three; out went an excellent Stefan de Vrij, Parolo and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and on came Patric, Alessandro Murgia and Davide Di Gennaro.
The game slowed down as it often does with so many changes but Lazio played well on the break and could have scored again with Keita and then Simone Palombi who had replaced the Spanish-Senagalese for the last five minutes. The match winner Ciro Immobile was also spared the final minutes and replaced by Cristiano Lombardi. Final score Malaga 0 Lazio 1.
Another pre-season win for Lazio, seven out of seven. The defence had held well against Liga opposition, Lucas Leiva had impressed as playmaker and the Immobile-Keita had been dangerous up front.
Lazio had prepared well for the Supercoppa appointment in a week's time when things got really serious.
Who played for Malaga
Roberto, Rosales (74' Cifu), Luis Hernández (74' D.Gonzalez), Baysse (74' Mikel), Juankar (74' A.Robles), Kuzmanovic (61' Juanpi), Recio (74' Cecchini), Mula (61' Keko), Jony (74' Chory), Adrián (74' José Carlos), Borja Bastón (61' En -Nesyri)
Substitutes: Andrés, Cengo
Manager: Michel
Who played for Lazio
Strakosha, Wallace, de Vrij (75' Patric), Radu (34' Bastos), Marusic (61' Basta), Parolo (75' Murgia), Leiva (61' Luis Alberto), Milinkovic-Savic (75' Di Gennaro), Lulic (61' Lukaku), Keita (86' Palombi), Immobile (86' Lombardi)
Manager: S.Inzaghi
Referee: Melero López
Goal: 55' Immobile
What happened next
The official season started in fantastic style. On August 13, Lazio defeated Juventus 3-2 to win the Supercoppa Italiana. Lazio went 2-0 up with two Immobile goals but Paulo Dybala responded with a late brace of his own before Alessandro Murgia got Lazio’s winner in the 93rd minute. Lazio lifted their 4th Supercoppa.
In Serie A Lazio finished 5th (EL) and narrowly missed out on Champions League. They lost the last and decisive game 2-3 at home to Inter and were overtaken for 4th place by the Nerazzurri. In total Lazio won 21, drew 9 and lost 8. The highlights were defeating Milan 4-1, Sassuolo 6-1, Benevento 6-2 and Chievo 5-1 at home and Juventus 2-1, Benevento 5-1, SPAL 5-2 and Fiorentina 4-3 away. Top scorer was Ciro Immobile with 41 goals (29 in A). He was top Serie A scorer alongside Inter's Mauro Icardi.
In the Coppa Italia the Biancocelesti reached the semi-finals. They eliminated Cittadella 4-1 and Fiorentina 1-0 at home but then lost to Milan on penalties after two goalless draws.
In the Europa League, Lazio reached the quarterfinals. In the first group stage they won 4 (Zulte Waregem 2-0, Nice 1-0 at home, Vitesse 3-2 and Nice 3-1 away), drew 1 (Vitesse 1-1 at home) and lost 1 (Zulte Waregem 2-3 away in the last game). The Biancocelesti then knocked out FSCB (Steaua Bucharest) 5-2 and Dynamo Kyiv 4-2 on aggregate. In the quarter finals they played Red Bull Salzburg, won the first home leg 4-2 but then collapsed in Austria losing 1-4 and conceding three goals in four minutes (72', 74' and 76') after leading through an Immobile goal. Another huge disappointment.
So, all in all a season of what could have been, in Serie A, Coppa Italia and Europe. The Scudetto was won by Juventus for the 34th time and the Bianconeri also won the Coppa Italia.
Malaga finished 20th in La Liga and ended up relegated. Michel was sacked on January 13 and replaced by José González. The only won 5 league games, drew 5 and lost 24. A disastrous season.
The top scorer was En-Nesyri with 5 goals. The Moroccan would later play for Sevilla and Fenerbahçe while Jony would play for Lazio in 2019-20 and remain on the books until 2023.
The Andalusians have just made it back to the Liga after even playing the third flight (Primera Federacíon) in 2023-24.
Lazio jersey 2017-18
Image sources: Football Kit Archive
For this season Lazio had four shirts all with Seleco as the main sponsor while the brand was Macron.
The main shirt was a classic light blue with a white round collar. The logo was the 1980's eagle.
The away shirt was electric blue, which faded into navy blue towards the bottom, with a small v neck. The logo was the classic eagle.
The third shirt was for the Europa League but was also used in Serie A. The shirt was with thick light blue and white vertical stripes. The back however was white with the numbers in dark blue. The logo was the classic eagle.
The fourth shirt was the goalkeeper's. It was the same as the main outfield shirt but total black with a light blue round neck. There were also green and red versions.
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