Glimpses of Sarriball

Simon Basten
Aug 2, 2025
5 min read

Season 2025-26

Pre Season Friendly

Saturday, August 2, 2025

Rams Park Arena, Istanbul

Galatasaray Lazio 2-2

Lazio play well in Istanbul and go close to victory

The previous season had ended in disaster as Lazio failed to reach a European qualification in the final game after falling at home to Lecce. Marco Baroni subsequently resigned so Claudio Lotito asked Maurizio Sarri to come back and he happily accepted. But there was a problem.

Everybody knew that Lazio would need to sell in order to buy since they were quite a long way from the necessary liquidity index (0.8). The liquidity index is the ratio between the current assets and the current liabilities. This favours the clubs which are highly indebted since the owners continually inject cash to cover the deficits. Lazio have always had this problem.

But there was a further problem. Lazio had not reached the indebtedness ratio (total debt divided by equity) nor the extended labour cost ratio (wages + social charges + amortization of transfers divided by operating revenue). The consequence was a complete transfer freeze, in other words no incoming transfers were allowed until at least September 1, 2025. A re-evaluation was set for September 30, 2025. If Lazio passed the test they could theoretically sign players on a free transfer starting from October or wait until January 2026 when they would have a free hand.

What happened? Apparently there was a bookkeeping mistake. A certain amount was added to the accounts on March 31 instead of April. The end of March was taken as a reference point for the analysis of the club’s accounts.

In the beginning this was not considered an error. The Italian Football Federation had inserted new parameters and rules plus a new commission to look at the accounts starting from July 1. Since the transfer window began at the same time, the club was not worried. It would be logical to open the transfer window with the new regulations. But then the head of the football federation Gabriele Gravina, certainly not a friend of Lazio's, declared that the new rules would be effective from January 2026. The Biancocelesti were in trouble.

Initially there was speculation that Sarri would resign, but, as he explained in his press conference in July, resignation never entered his mind.

So a quiet summer as far as transfers were concerned with just Loum Tchanouna being sold to Burnley, Nicolò Casale sold to Bologna and a few other minor operations.

Lazio, who had decided to do the pre-season training directly at Formello, had so far played two friendlies plus a training match with the Primavera. They had won at Avellino and lost with Fenerbahçe in the first of the mini Turkish tour. Today’s game was the second.

The match

They did not win against Galatasaray, despite the Turkish side being ready to make their league debut the following Friday, but at least Lazio showed much of the tactical blueprint Maurizio Sarri has been teaching them. It was a good performance from the Biancocelesti, particularly during the latter stages of the first half and, to some extent, at the start of the second. There were also encouraging signs in attack, where only a mistake by Pedro prevented Lazio from wrapping up the match at 3-1. Instead, the game finished 2-2 after a series of substitutions completely transformed the Biancocelesti side.

Once again, Sarri opted for the same players he had used from midfield onwards against Mourinho's Fenerbahçe. Nicolò Rovella started in his usual position, with Matteo Guendouzi on the right and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru on the left, supporting the familiar front three of Matteo Cancellieri, Taty Castellanos and Mattia Zaccagni, who once again wore the captain's armband. The defence, however, was completely reshuffled. Only Nuno Tavares retained his place at left-back, while Christos Mandas started in goal, Elseid Hysaj replaced Manuel Lazzari on the right and an unusual central defensive pairing was formed by Adam Marusic—Lazio's man for every emergency—and Alessio Romagnoli.

The match immediately became an uphill battle for Lazio. After just ten minutes, the defence was caught off guard by Rolan Sallai's free-kick from a short corner. Mandas was not particularly alert, Romagnoli even appeared to decide to leave the ball, and Lucas Torreira was ready to head it into the net.

It was a real shame because Lazio had been playing very well. The Turks were given not a single metre of space in which to find a passing lane. As against Fenerbahçe, there was a feeling that Lazio were already making good progress defensively. When the opposition had possession, Cancellieri and Zaccagni dropped back on the flanks, transforming the 4-3-3 into a highly compact 4-5-1.

Lazio's equaliser also came from a set piece, with Rovella taking a corner in the 31st minute. Cancellieri's header would have gone wide had it not struck Davinson Sánchez's left leg directly. The absence of Victor Osimhen, who had been presented before the match alongside the Turkish club's other star, Leroy Sané, weakened Galatasaray's attack. Until half-time, however, Sarri's team allowed their opponents only one shot on target: Abdülkerim Bardakcı's effort in the 40th minute, which Mandas spectacularly saved.

From that moment, Lazio enjoyed six outstanding minutes, looking compact and deadly on the counter-attack.

On the first opportunity, in the 44th minute, Dele-Bashiru saw his shot saved by goalkeeper Güvenç when he was already just a few steps from goal.

The second counter-attack produced the lead in the 45th minute. It showcased the quality of the players making up Sarri's front three. Castellanos produced a brilliant touch to release Cancellieri, who raced into the Galatasaray area before setting up Zaccagni for an easy finish.

After the break, Sarri brought Mario Gila, Luca Pellegrini, Danilo Cataldi, Matias Vecino and Boulaye Dia off the bench, but the team continued to interpret the match in the same way. The personnel changed, but the tactical script remained the same.

After an hour, Ivan Provedel, Oliver Provstgaard and Pedro also entered the game. Pedro then missed the chance to seal victory in the 67th minute, breaking away on the counter-attack. He rounded the goalkeeper but, after being unbalanced by an opponent, his left-footed effort went wide of the open goal.

In the 75th minute, Torreira scored his second goal of the match with a curling effort that caught Provedel by surprise.

It was disappointing, but there were still plenty of positives for Lazio to take from the performance.

Who played for Galatasaray

Günay Güvenç, Bardakci (63' Köhn), Kaan Ayhan (63' Yilmaz), Sánchez (84' Nelsson), Jacobs (75' Ünyay), Lemina (63' Kutucu), Torreira, Sara (84' Baltaci), Elmali (46' Akgün), Sané (63' Jelert), Sallai (84' Karatas)

Substitutes: J.Yilmaz, Büyük, Aydin

Manager: Buruk

Who played for Lazio

Mandas (59' Provedel), Hysaj (46' Gila), Marusic (59' Lazzari), Romagnoli (66' Provstgaard), Tavares (46' Pellegrini), Guendouzi (66' Belahyane), Rovella (46' Cataldi), Dele-Bashiru (46' Vecino), Cancellieri (75' Noslin), Castellanos (46' Dia), Zaccagni (59' Pedro)