Game 5, Serie A
Sunday, October 18, 1998
Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan
Inter Lazio 3-5
Spectacular Lazio annihilate Inter at San Siro
In late August Lazio won the Super Coppa in Turin against Juventus. A good start to the season but in the beginning the Biancocelesti struggled. They were not playing well and also had problems in the opening rounds of the Cup Winners Cup and Coppa Italia.
The match
A full house tonight at "La Scala del Calcio", 70,000 expecting an entertaining game.
Lazio were without Alessandro Nesta, Alen Boksic, Dejan Stankovic, Ivan De la Peña and Christian Vieri. Inter were without Ronaldo and Roberto Baggio.
The game came to life immediately. After only one minute on the clock, Sinisa Mihajlovic curled a free kick into a crowded area where Marcelo Salas was clever to elude his marker Beppe Bergomi and flicked the ball in from close range. Inter 0 Lazio 1. A perfect start for Lazio.
Inter reacted with a thundering volley by Francesco Moriero from the right vertex of the area but Luca Marchegiani parried it well.
In the 13th minute came a controversial episode. Pavel Nedved freed Salas down the left, the Chilean tried to dribble his way into the area but was brutally tackled by Ciccio Colonnese. It was a dangerous tackle in which he hit Salas' ankle and probably then the ball too. For the referee it was just a corner but the "Matador" hobbled off injured. A big blow to Lazio. Guerino Gottardi came on.
Inter pushed forward. Ivan Zamorano was just anticipated by Marchegiani who dived low before the Chilean could shoot. In the 22nd minute Inter equalised. Bergomi sent a long ball out of defence and it was controlled by Zamorano on the right edge of the area, he tapped it back to Aron Winter who sent a cracking shot into the top left-hand corner. A fantastic goal. Inter 1 Lazio 1.
It was an open game. Zamorano's first touch let him down when he would have had only the keeper to beat. In the 30th minute Mihajlovic hit the base of the post on a freekick and on the rebound from outside the box Matías Almeyda hammered a left foot which forced Gianluca Pagliuca to dive to his right and parry into corner.
Lazio insisted and in the 34th minute Mihajlovic tried his luck on a freekick from an impossible angle near the right corner flag and Pagliuca saved low on the front post with some difficulty. On the subsequent corner Lazio scored. The Serb curled the ball into the front post where Sergio Conceição was the quickest and headed past Pagliuca. Inter 1 Lazio 2.
In the 40th minute Lazio made it three. Beppe Favalli, from way inside his own half, struck a perfect long ball over the Inter defence where Roberto Mancini, beating the offside trap, was suddenly unmarked in front of Pagliuca, he let it bounce twice and then belted it into the back of the net. Inter 1 Lazio 3.
Things got worse for the hosts just before halftime when Diego Simeone was sent off. On an aerial challenge with Fernando Couto "El Cholo", he seemed to use his elbow and then stepped on the Portuguese when he was down. So, at the break Inter 1 Lazio 3 and the Nerazzurri in ten men.
After three minutes of the second half Lazio lost their other striker to injury too. Mancini was forced off and replaced by midfielder Roberto Baronio. Lazio were now playing with Pavel Nedved and Gottardi up front.
They still scored again soon. In the 53rd minute Nedved did well on the left and put in a low cross, Baronio dummied cleverly and in came Conceição who controlled the ball and beat Pagliuca with a left foot on the far post. Inter 1 Lazio 4.
Inter at this point put another striker on, Nicola Ventola, for a midfielder Moriero. The Apulian striker was immediately dangerous as he weaved his way into Lazio's area but his low strike was saved on the front post by Marchegiani. Zamorano then had a threatening header but it was tipped over the bar by Marchegiani.
In the 64th minute, future Lazio, Ousmane Dabo came off for Zé Elias and a few minutes later Lazio defender Giovanni Lopez replaced Couto.
Lazio threatened again with a long range Nedved effort palmed over the bar by Pagliuca and then scored again. In the 74th minute Baronio crossed in low from the right and Nedved unmarked smashed in a close range left foot in the top left corner. Inter 1 Lazio 5. A score line of epic proportions, so much so that a large number of home fans decided they had seen enough and left.
There was more action left however. In the 77th minute Inter pulled a goal back. Yuri Djorkaeff won a tackle at the entrance to the area and the ball reached Ventola who hit it first time, surprising Marchegiani with a medium height shot to his right. Inter 2 Lazio 5.
Before the end there was still time for Nedved to get sent off for retaliating to a foul and then in the 96th minute for Inter to make the score more respectable. Ventola again was quickest to a ball over the Lazio defence in the area and scored from close range. Inter 3 Lazio 5. There was no more time, an epic win for Lazio.
A well-deserved win for the Biancocelesti. At one point they had been devastating and humiliated Inter. The final score line should not deceive, once Lazio scored their second, the result was never in doubt.
Despite playing large parts of the game with only one or no striker at all, Lazio's attacking moves had been superb.
Lazio were now 6th, on 9 points (with Milan and Parma) but only one behind Inter, Roma and Juventus on 10 and two behind leaders Fiorentina on 12. One worry however was the growing number of injuries.
Inter had missed the chance to go top as leaders Fiorentina had lost 1-2 away to Roma.
Who played for Inter
Pagliuca, Silvestre, Bergomi, Colonnese, Moriero (54' Ventola), Winter, Dabo (64' Zé Elias), Simeone, Zanetti, Djorkaeff, Zamorano
Substitutes: Mazzantini, Paulo Sousa, Galante, Pirlo, Cauet
Manager: Simoni
Who played for Lazio
Marchegiani, Pancaro, F. Couto (68' G. Lopez), Mihajlovic, Favalli, Conceição, Venturin, Almeyda, Nedved, Salas (15' Gottardi), Mancini (48' Baronio)
Manager: Eriksson
Referee: Boggi
Goals: 1' Salas, 22' Winter, 36' Conceição, 40' Mancini, 53' Conceição, 74' Nedved, 77' Ventola, 96' Ventola
Red cards: Simeone, Nedved
Sources
Comments