February 9, 2012: Lazio - Cesena 3-2

Lazio Stories
2 days ago
9 min read

Special K

The K factor as Konko is sent off and Lazio 0-2 down but Kozak gets winner

The season so far

Lazio had narrowly missed out on Champions League the previous season with 5th place behind Udinese.

This year Edy Reja had been confirmed but there had been a few changes to the squad.

The main novelty was in goal, as Lazio had bought Federico Marchetti from Cagliari while Fernando Muslera went to Galatasaray, in Turkey. The other main new arrivals were defenders Abdoulay Konko (Genoa) and Lorik Cana (Galatasaray), midfielder Senad Lulic (Young Boys, a name to watch out for… Lulic that is), forwards Djibril Cissé (Panathinaikos) and above all Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich).

The other main player leaving was defender Stephan Lichtsteiner (Juventus) while others were midfielders Pasquale Foggia (Sampdoria - on loan with clause to buy), Christian Manfredini (end of contract - Sambonifacese) plus forwards Sergio Floccari (Parma - on loan with clause to buy) and Mauro Zarate (Inter - on loan with clause to buy).

In the recent January window keeper Juan Pablo Carrizo (Catania - on loan), defenders Guglielmo Stendardo (Atalanta - on loan) and Luis Pedro Cavanda (Bari - on loan), midfielders Giuseppe Sculli (Genoa - on loan) and forward Djibril Cissé (QPR) had also left.

In Serie A the opening fixture on August 28 had been postponed to December 21 due to a players' strike over collective contractual issues so the first game of the season was at San Siro against Milan and ended 2-2.

Since then Lazio had won 11 (including derby and Cesena away both 2-1), drawn 5 and lost 5. The Biancocelesti were in 4th position, on 39 points. Their most recent game had been a 2-3 away defeat at Genoa.

In the Europa League preliminary round against Rabotnički, from North Macedonia, Lazio had strolled to a 9-1 aggregate win. They then came second in the group stage after 2 wins (Zurich 1-0 and Sporting Lisbon 2-0, both at home), 3 draws (Zurich 1-1 and Vaslui 0-0 away and Vaslui 2-2 at home) and 1 defeat (Sporting Lisbon 1-2 away). This meant Lazio would have to meet Atlético Madrid, coming down from Champions League, in a playoff on February 16 and 23.

In Coppa Italia, Lazio had eliminated Verona 3-2 at home but then been knocked out by Milan 1-3 away.

Cesena had finished 15th in Serie A the previous season. The manager was Massimo Ficcadenti and top scorer, former Lazio, Luis Jiménez with 9 league goals. The Bianconeri had beaten Lazio 1-0 at home and lost 0-1 away. The squad also included future Lazio, Marco Parolo (2014-21).

This season the manager was initially Marco Giampaolo but he had been replaced by Daniele Arrigoni in early November, after ten fixtures. The main new players were: goalkeeper Nicola Ravaglia (SPAL - back from loan), defenders Marco Rossi (Bari), Gianluca Comotto (Fiorentina), midfielders Raphael Martinho (Catania - on loan), Antonio Candreva (Udinese - on loan via Parma but he would leave in January), Roberto Guana (Palermo via Chievo) plus forwards Adrian Mutu (Fiorentina), Éder (Empoli via Brescia but he would leave in January), Jorge Martínez (Juventus - on loan) and Abdelkader Ghezzal (Bari - on loan but he would leave in January). Cesena had recently added midfielder Simone Del Nero (Lazio - on loan), Mario Santana (Napoli - on loan) and forward Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus - on loan).

Leaving were defender Yūto Nagatomo (Inter), Davide Santon (Inter - end of loan, then Newcastle United), Felipe (Fiorentina - end of loan), Paolo Dellafiore (Palermo - end of loan), midfielders Emanuele Giaccherini (Juventus), Luigi Piangerelli (retired), Stephen Appiah (Vojvodina) plus forwards Fabio Caserta (Atalanta - end of loan) and Igor Budan (Palermo - end of loan). In January forward Erjon Bogdani also left (Siena).

So far, the Romagnoli were having difficulties this season. They had won 4, drawn 4 and lost 13. They were currently 19th on 16 points (four from safety, Siena on 20). They however had a game in hand as their home game against Catania on February 4 had been snowed off.

In the Coppa Italia they had beaten Ascoli 1-0 a.e.t and Gubbio 3-0 but then been eliminated by Napoli 1-2 away.

A must win game for Lazio tonight against such lowly and struggling opponents.

The match: Thursday, February 9, 2012, Stadio Olimpico, Rome

A Thursday 20.45 kick-off on a freezing evening. The uncharacteristic match day was due to the "Six Nations" rugby game being played at the Olimpico on the Saturday. There were only about 10,000 fans present.

Lazio were missing defenders Andrè Dias, Stefan Radu and Modibo Diakitè plus midfielders Stefano Mauri, Cristian Brocchi and forward Tommaso Rocchi.

The visitors were without defender Steve Von Bergen.

Lazio pressed high and controlled possession in the early stages. The visitors played deep waiting for opportunities on the break. Miro Klose failed to convert two favourable chances although on one Francesco Antonioli was excellent. The Seahorses were dangerous with a Vincenzo Iaquinta long range effort but Federico Marchetti fisted away. Then the Romagnoli struck.

In the 14th minute Hernanes was dispossessed and Vincenzo Iaquinta hurtled down the right and crossed into the area where Luciano Zauri lost his man Adrian Mutu who was free to score, 0-1.

Lazio reacted but without lucidity. They attacked in numbers but every time they lost the ball they looked vulnerable.

Klose had a big chance but Antonioli narrowed the angle and saved while on the counterattack Iaquinta and Mutu combined well but the Romanian's header was high.

In the 32nd minute Mutu picked up a ball in midfield and ran forward undisturbed and once in the box was fouled by Abdoulay Konko. It was a penalty and the French-Senegalese defender was also last man so he was off. Iaquinta put it away coolly, 0-2.

Two nil down and in ten men things were looking pretty grim on this bitterly cold evening.

Lazio then placed Álvaro González at full-back and continued to attack but frenetically and without rationale, hitting a black and white brick wall. Halftime: Lazio 0 Cesena 2.

Reja's decision for the second half was to take off midfielder Antonio Candreva and put on big Czech forward Libor Kozak.

Lazio were transformed. They went forward with fury but now verticalized immediately and found openings. Cesena were in difficulty despite having the extra man.

Klose missed another favourable chance but then decided to be the assist man instead.

In the 53rd minute the Biancocelesti pulled one back. Hernanes, teed up by Klose, hit a brilliant, powerful long range shot that beat Antonioli, 1-2.

Cesena decided to change something and replaced forward Iaquinta with Vincenzo Rennella. Both sides had chances as Mario Santana's strike was just wide and Kozak was slightly late on an open goal opportunity.

Lazio suddenly believed and Cesena were increasingly flustered. In the 61st minute the German forward headed down to Senad Lulic who beat the offside trap and equalised, 2-2.

A remarkable turnaround but it was not finished as only two minutes later Lazio took the lead. In the 63rd minute Kozak side footed the ball into the net in a crowded area, 3-2.

Cesena now had to change the game plan and put on Simone Del Nero for Daniel Pudil in the 65th minute and Roberto Guana for Santana in the 71st.

Lazio after their huge effort to fight back now tired and were forced to defend. Cesena pushed forward but Lazio held firm. The visiting forwards never had any clear-cut chances and the only real threat came in the 84th minute from a long range Gianluca Comotto effort which whistled just over the bar.

For the few last minutes Lazio put on a defender, Lionel Scaloni and brought off match winner Kozak and resisted to clinch the three points. A win which was expected before the game but at halftime had looked extremely unlikely.

A poor Lazio in the first 45 minutes but then a magic 19 minutes had changed everything.

Lazio were now 3rd on 42 points (Udinese had lost 1-2 at home to Milan) while Cesena were still 19th but now 7 points from safety (Siena had beaten Roma 1-0 at home).

Who played for Lazio

Marchetti, Konko, Biava, Zauri, Lulic, Ledesma, Matuzalem, Gonzalez, Candreva (46' Kozak, 84' Scaloni), Hernanes, Klose

Substitutes: Bizzarri, Stankevicius, Garrido, Zampa, Rozzi

Manager: Reja

Who played for Cesena

Antonioli, Comotto, Rodriguez, Lauro, Ceccarelli, Santana (71' Guana), Colucci, Parolo, Pudil (65' Del Nero), Mutu, Iaquinta (59' Rennella)

Substitutes: Ravaglia, Rossi, Martinho, Martinez

Manager: Arrigoni

Referee: Romeo

Goals: 14' Mutu, 35' Iaquinta (pen), 54' Hernanes, 61' Lulic, 63' Kozak

Red card: 32' Konko

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUqU2r7e3PE

What happened next

Lazio finished 4th but missed out on Champions League again to Udinese. Lazio qualified for the Europa league. In the remaining 15 games the Biancocelesti won 6 (including Roma 2-1 again and Inter 3-1 at home), drew 2 and lost 7 (including the decisive match with Udinese 0-2 away). After a promising start to the season Lazio had faded.

In the Europa League Atlético Madrid proved too good and defeated Lazio 4-1 on aggregate.

The highlight of the season was obviously doing the double on city rivals Roma. The top scorer was Miro Klose with 15 goals (12 in A).

Cesena ended up relegated. After another two fixtures they sacked Arrigoni too and employed Mario Berretta. In their 16 games after today they went winless, drew 6 and lost 10. They finished bottom on only 22 points (20 from safety). They would be in Serie A again in 2014-15 but were relegated immediately and have not been back since.

With Juventus Champions in Serie A for the 28th time, at the other end Cesena trudged down to Serie B with Novara and Lecce.

The Coppa Italia was won by Napoli (Juventus 2-0) while Chelsea won the Champions League (Bayern Munich on penalties).

Let's talk about Libor Kozak

I doubt there has ever been a centre-forward at Lazio as tall as Libor Kozak. At 1.93 he was an ideal player for crosses and not only. He was not slow either so he could score in any possible way.

Kozak was born in Brumov-Bylnice in the Czech Republic on May 30, 1989. Early in his career as he was so tall he played in defence but his goal scoring and dribbling skills made coaches move him forward. He started his football career with Opava and stayed there until 2008 debuting in the second Czech tier.

In 2008 he signed for Lazio. He initially played in the primavera team (U19s) but impressed Delio Rossi who started to call him for the A team. He debuted in Serie A on May 9, 2009 at San Siro against Inter. After three appearances he was loaned to Brescia in Serie B for the 2009-10 season.

Following a good year in Lombardy he was called back to Rome and played three years for the Biancocelesti. Kozak was not a goal scoring machine in Serie A (10 goals) but, particularly in his last year, he scored regularly in Europa League of which he was top scorer with 10 goals in 2012-13. He was also part of the squads that won the 2009 Coppa Italia and the historic one against Roma in 2013.

Adriano Galliani, Silvio Berlusconi’s right-hand man, when at Milan accused Kozak of being a dirty player and from then on, he had a tough time with the Serie A referees. In a game against AC Milan he had first elbowed Daniele Bonera and then literally clashed heads with Nicola Legrottaglie. Galliani at the end of the game went as far as saying that Libor should have been arrested.

In 2013 Lazio decided to cash in some money and sold Kozak to Aston Villa. After a good start, at the beginning of 2014 he suffered a serious injury breaking his leg. Due to complications following the operation, which went wrong, he missed the entire 2014-15 season. He came back after 605 days, in August 2015, but in January he broke his ankle. In four years with the Villans he only played 22 games.

Once his contract expired he signed for Bari in Serie B. In the 2017-18 season he appeared in 16 games scoring two goals but the club then went bust and he was a free agent.

In 2018 he signed for Livorno in Serie B but left after nine games to join Slovan Liberec. In 2019 he joined Sparta Prague and stayed for two years appearing in 55 games, scoring 22 goals and winning a domestic cup.

In 2021 he signed for Puskas Akademia in Hungary. After 29 appearances and 5 goals he moved back to the Czech Republic and signed with Slovacko. In January 2023 he signed with Trinity Zlin.

In the summer of 2023 he returned to Italy and signed for Arezzo in Serie C. He only played 7 league games and 1 in Coppa Italia.

In 2024-25 he played for his original club Opava in the Czech second tier. He played 26 league games with 7 goals. He then retired at 36

Kozak won 9 caps with the Czech Republic with two goals (Hungary and Italy).

A career tormented by injuries but Lazio fans have very fond memories of Kozak and gave him a big hand when, on May 28 at the Olimpico before the Lazio vs Cremonese game, the heroes of the 2013 Coppa Italia win celebrated the tenth anniversary of the triumph.

Lazio Career

Season	Total appearances (goals)	Serie A	Coppa Italia	Europa League
2008-09	3	3	-	-
2010-11	22 (7)	19 (6)	3 (1)	-
2011-12	24 (5)	17 (4)	-	7 (1)
2012-13	31 (10)	19	1	11 (10)
Total	80 (22)	58 (10)	4 (1)	18 (11)