February 2, 2014: Chievo Verona Lazio 0-2

Simon Basten
2 hours ago
8 min read

Lazio Cruise Past Chievo with Candreva and Keita the Difference

Lazio claim a commanding 2–0 away win over Chievo at the Bentegodi in a rain-soaked contest, delivering a composed performance that boosts confidence ahead of the upcoming derby.

Player of the day: Keita Balde

The season so far

Optimism was high at the start of the 2013-14 season thanks to the great victory in Coppa Italia against Roma on May 26, 2013. The celebrations lasted the whole summer and fans were over the moon.

The summer transfer window was not exactly eye opening, but two important signings were made: Lucas Biglia, Argentinian midfielder from Anderlecht, and Felipe Anderson, Brazilian forward that Lazio believed could be one of the best players the Biancocelesti had ever signed. Other minor signings were Etrit Berisha, goalkeeper, Diego Novaretti, defender and Brayan Perea, forward.

However, the real focus of the summer transfers was the missed deal to sign the Turkish forward Burak Yilmaz from Galatasaray. Lazio had already tried in 2012 but the negotiations collapsed at the last minute because the Turkish club wanted a very high percentage on the future sale of the player. The talks re-opened in 2013 and all was agreed. Yilmaz was in Rome waiting to sign the contract. But at the last minute of the last hour of the mercato, his agent asked for a €2 million commission to be paid on the signing of the contract and not spread over its length, as done normally. President Claudio Lotito refused to be blackmailed and the deal fell through.

The fans were furious. The anti-Lotito sentiment, which had faded after the historic win against Roma, came back with all of its venom. It would mar the entire season.

2013-14 had not started too well anyway as Lazio were thrashed in the Supercoppa by Juventus 4-0 with three goals in four minutes. The defence had been one of the strong points of the team, now it was a liability.

At the end of the first half of the season Lazio were ninth. Manager Vladimir Pectovic was unable to steer the Lazio ship in the right direction. Not only. He signed a contract to be the new Head Trainer of the Swiss national team at the end of his deal with Lazio in 2014. Lotito took this opportunity to sack him before Christmas and call back Edy Reja to try to get Lazio back on course.

Lazio first beat Inter, then drew with Bologna, won at Udine and drew at home with Juventus. They were ninth, still a long way to go.

Lazio had been kicked out of the Coppa Italia in the quarter-finals by Napoli and would be facing Ludogorets Razgard in the Round of 32 of Europa League after arriving second in the group phase.

The match: Sunday, February 2, 2014, Stadio Bentegodi, Verona

Heavy rain set the scene in Verona and contributed to a slow, cautious opening. Lazio dominated possession early on, circulating the ball patiently as they looked for an opening. The breakthrough arrived in the 6th minute with their first incisive move: Keita Balde burst down the left and delivered a pinpoint cross that Antonio Candreva met first time with a left-footed finish to give the visitors the lead.

Chievo responded with intent, creating chances through Cyril Thereau and Alberto Paloschi. The latter came close with a header that drifted narrowly wide, while Gennaro Sardo later tested Lazio with a dangerous shot-cum-cross that missed by inches. Lazio remained threatening, and Candreva nearly doubled the advantage midway through the half, crashing a 25-metre free kick against the crossbar.

The Biancocelesti continued to control proceedings after the break, limiting Chievo’s space and chances. Lazio went close again when Keita attempted an audacious backheel from a Candreva assist, only for Christian Puggioni to intervene. The visitors were dealt a blow on the hour mark when Lucas Biglia picked up a booking that would rule him out of the derby.

Chievo pushed forward in search of an equaliser, but Lazio struck again to seal the match. Candreva once more provided the spark, threading a superb pass through to Keita, whose shot took a decisive deflection to wrong-foot Puggioni and make it 2–0.

With the result effectively settled, Lazio managed the closing stages with maturity, threatening on the counter through Miro Klose and Biglia while denying Chievo any clear route back into the game. Keita departed to warm applause late on, replaced by Alvaro Gonzalez, as Lazio comfortably saw out the victory.

The final whistle confirmed a professional away win and three valuable points — a timely morale boost as Lazio turn their attention to the looming derby.

Who played for Chievo

Puggioni, Frey, Dainelli (18' Canini), Cesar, Sardo, Bentivoglio (62' Pellissier), L. Rigoni, Hetemaj (44' Radovanovic), Dramè, Théréau, Paloschi

Substitutes: Agazzi, Squizzi, Bernardini, Rubin, Claiton, Lazarevic, Kupisz, Stoian

Manager: Corini

Who played for Lazio

Berisha, Biava, Dias, Radu, Cavanda, Biglia, Ledesma, Lulic, Candreva (92' Crecco), Keita (84' A. Gonzalez), Klose (89' Perea) Substitutes: Marchetti, Strakosha, Novaretti, Cana, Onazi, Pereirinha, Felipe Anderson

Manager: Reja

Referee: Russo

Goals: 6' Candreva, 70' Keita

What happened next

After the game against Sampdoria with six games to go, Lazio were just two points away from a European qualification. But two decisive draws, both 3-3, against Torino and Verona put an end to any hopes.

Too much celebration and too many players not performing as well as they should made any type of comeback impossible. The anti-Lotito climate certainly did not help matters. They were also knocked out of Europea League by Ludogorets Razgard 4-3 on aggregate

Antonio Candreva was the player with most appearances (44) and with the most goals (12).

Let’s talk about Keita Balde

When Lazio signed Keita Balde Diao and Mamadou Tounkara on a free transfer there was a lot of excitement. They both came from the Barcelona youth team and when they played their first game for the Primavera team everybody was certain they would become future stars. Tounkara virtually disappeared, Keita did not but has never managed to fulfil all of his enormous potential.

Keita was born in Arbucies, near Girona in Spain, on March 8 1995 to Senegalese parents. He started playing for the youth teams of Barcelona in 2004 and was highly considered. But one day in Qatar where the team was playing a youth competition he was punished by the club for having played a trick on a teammate. As a consequence, he was sent to Cornellà where in a season he scored 47 goals. When Barcelona asked him to come back he refused and signed for Lazio.

He was a baby phenomenon. He was very fast, not very tall but could shoot with both feet, a proper winger. Lazio first waited for his Spanish passport to be ready, but since that was taking forever in the end signed him as a non- EU player so he could start playing for the Primavera.

With Lazio he won the Primavera Scudetto in 2013 together with Tounkara, Danilo Cataldi and Thomas Strakosha. For the 2013-14 season he was an A Team player, though sometimes loaned to the primavera. He debuted in Serie A (Lazio Chievo 3-0 on September 15) and in Europe (Lazio Legia Warsaw 1-0 on September 18). He scored his first professional goal at Parma on November 10.

He made regular appearances but did not score much. That was because he was mainly played in the second half. Stefano Pioli often used him when Lazio had difficulty in scoring. He would come on in the second half and open up defences, allowing his teammates to score. This tendency of starting him on the bench would continue even under Simone Inzaghi but at one point in the 2016-17 season, in order to put Keita closer to the goal, Inzaghi changed Lazio’s formation to a 3-5-2. Keita was nearer Immobile and they both thrived. Keita scored 16 goals that season and showed just how good he could be.

But there was a problem. His agent, Roberto Calenda, did everything he possibly could to alienate the player from the club. His continuous intrusions and complaints did not make negotiations for Keita’s contract renewal easy. Keita considered himself a top player, on a par with his more famous colleagues, and according to his agent, at Lazio he was not getting the consideration he deserved. The player wanted lots of money and Lazio were not really prepared to satisfy him.

In the summer of 2017 Juventus were interested in signing him but the offer was too low. Milan also made an offer but Keita had already given his word to Juve so he refused. Monaco then sold Kylian Mbappé and chose Keita to substitute him.

But Keita was not Mbappé and Monaco soon realised that they had a decent player but not a top player. Monaco came second, but Keita was a bit of a disappointment, especially if compared to the Frenchman. In August 2018, he was loaned to Inter with a purchase option. He did not play as much as he wanted and often came in from the bench. That devastating player he was at Lazio was no more. He did contribute to Inter reaching the Champions League slots but at the end of the season he returned to Monaco after 29 appearances and five goals

After another year in Ligue 1 he was loaned to Sampdoria for a season but he did not impress much and at the end he returned to Monaco.

In 2021 the French side sold him to Cagliari but it was a dismal year for the club and they ended up relegated to Serie B. Keita, thanks to a special clause in his contract, became a free agent and in August 2022 signed for Spartak Moscow. He stayed until August 2023, not playing all that much, when he was loaned to Espaynol in the Spanish second tier. His contract expired with Spartak and in August 2024 he signed with Sivasspor but left after just a few months. In February 2025 he signed for Monza in Serie A, made 11 appearances with 2 goals and was then confirmed even if the team were relegated to Serie B.

Keita could have played for either Spain or Senegal and in the end, he decided to play for the latter. He has played in the Africa Cup of Nations in 2017, 2019 and 2021 and also played one game in the 2018 World Cup. He has appeared 40 times for Senegal and scored 6 goals.

Keita played 137 games for Lazio (110 in Serie A, 12 in Coppa Italia, 2 in Champions League and 13 in Europa League) and scored 31 goals (26 in Serie A, 3 in Coppa Italia, one in Champions League and one in Europa League).

He was a very exciting player who could change the course of a match in a second. Powerful, fast, good dribbler, it was a pity that he did not fulfill all the promise.

Lazio Career

Season	Total appearances (goals)	Serie A	Coppa Italia	Champions League	Europa League
2013-14	35 (6)	25 (5)	2	-	8 (1)
2014-15	29 (4)	23 (1)	6 (3)	-	-
2015-16	39 (5)	31 (4)	1	2 (1)	5
2016-17	34 (16)	31 (16)	3	-	-
Total	137 (31)	110 (26)	12 (3)	2 (1)	13 (1)