Arrivederci Europe

Simon Basten

Mar 16, 2023

3 min read

2022-23 Season

Conference League

Round of 16

Thursday, March 16, 2023

Previous Match

AZ Stadion, Alkmaar

AZ Alkmaar Lazio 2-1

Lazio lose and say goodbye to Europe for this year

The teams

Maurizio Sarri was more concerned about Sunday’s derby than this game and even though he put in Ivan Provedel instead of Luis Maximiano, in defence Mario Gila was in the middle and, finally, Luca Pellegini on the left. Toma Basic was in midfield and Matteo Cancellieri on the right.

The match

The beginning of the game followed the same script as the first leg at the Olimpico. AZ manoeuvred slowly from behind attracting the pressing from Lazio to then surprise the Biancocelesti with rapid passes forward in the gaps created by the Lazio pressure. This worked tremendously in Rome and it looked like it was working in Holland too, until the 21st minute.

Long pass from Alessio Romagnoli over the Alkmaar defence, Mattia Zaccagni reached the ball, went forward and once near the box he passed to Felipe Anderson. The Brazilian controlled the ball, looked up, and shot. 1-0 for Lazio.

The lead lasted until the 28th minute. Jesper Karlsson on the left found some space and advanced towards the Lazio box. He shot from 25 metres, the ball seemed to go straight to Provedel but then swayed away and beat the Lazio goalkeeper. 1-1.

Second half

Lazio tried to do something in the second half but lacked any real determination. Pellegrini had a go in the 52nd minute from 35 metres but his shot was saved by Matthew Ryan. Tijiani Reijnders hit the woodwork in the 55th minute and seven minutes later Alkmaar made it two. Karlsson to Vangelis Pavlidis outside the box, great shot, nothing Provedel could do.

AZ went for Lazio’s jugular and created numerous chances for the 3-1. Provedel was miraculous a few times and the woodwork saved the Biancocelesti in the 64th minute (Jens Odgaard) and in 75th (Reijnders). All Lazio could muster was an attempt from Pedro (in for Zaccagni) deflected by a Dutch defender.

Poor European Campaign

With the exception of the first 60 minutes of the first game against Feyenoord, Lazio played pretty poorly for the whole of this season’s European campaign. They were a little bit unlucky in that they never had an easy match, with maybe the exception of Cluj, plus the refereeing was terrible in some games.

Perhaps the lack of depth in the squad could be to blame, but it was also a mentality issue. The team did not play with the necessary intensity that European games require. That certainly was what they lacked when Lazio lost 5-1 against Midtjylland, which was the defining moment. From then on qualification was all uphill and without Ciro Immobile it became even more difficult. The consequent relegation to Conference League plus this early exit came without King Ciro. In Serie A Lazio had managed without him but not in Europe.

The only consolation was that while the other Italian teams fighting for a Champions League qualification were still in the European competitions, Lazio would be able to concentrate solely on the Campionato. The previous year that had proved to be fundamental as the team had improved tremendously once they had just one competition to concentrate on. We could only hope.

Who played for AZ Alkmaar

Ryan, Sugawara, Goes (86' Beukema), Hatzidiakos, Kerkez, Clasie, Mijnans, Reijnders, Odgaard (86' Lahdo), Pavlidis, Karlsson (86' van Brederode)

Substitutes: Verhulst, Owusu-Oduro, Yusuf Barasi, Lahdo, Vanheusden, Buurmeester, de Jong, M. de Wit, Meerdink

Manager: Jansen

Who played for Lazio

Provedel, Marusic, Gila, Romagnoli (58' Casale), Pellegrini (69' Lazzari), Milinkovic-Savic (58' Luis Alberto), Vecino, Basic, Cancellieri, Felipe Anderson (78' Romero), Zaccagni (58' Pedro)