January 23, 2025: Lazio-Real Sociedad 3-1, Europa League

Dag Jenkins
Jan 23
9 min read

Lazio march on in Europe

The Biancocelesti sweep Basques aside in first half and consolidate first place

The season so far

Lazio had finished 7th the previous season. Maurizio Sarri had started as manager but had resigned in March after 28 games. Giovanni Martusciello was in charge for the next game and then Igor Tudor had taken over for the last nine games and Lazio had qualified for the Europa League. The highlight was beating Juventus 1-0 at home. The top scorer was Ciro Immobile with 11 goals (7 in A).

This year Marco Baroni was the new manager and there had been a lot of changes to the squad.

Coming in were defenders Samuel Gigot (Olympique Marseille), Nuno Tavares (Arsenal), midfielders Gaetano Castrovilli (free agent), Fisayo Dele-Bashiru (Hatayspor) plus forwards Boulaye Dia (Salernitana), Tijjani Noslin (Verona) and Loum Tchaouna (Salernitana). Not a lot to get excited about.

Leaving were defender Nicolò Casale (Bologna), midfielders Danilo Cataldi (Fiorentina - on loan), Felipe Anderson (Palmeiras), Luis Alberto (Al-Duhail), Daichi Kamada (Crystal Palace) and forward Ciro Immobile (Beşiktaş - after 340 games and 207 goals). Some players who had their names engraved in Lazio's history.

So far in Serie A after 21 games Lazio were on 39 points. They had won 12 (including Napoli 1-0 away), drawn 3 and lost 6 (including derby 0-2 and Inter 0-6 at home).

In Coppa Italia, Lazio had defeated Napoli again 3-1 and would play Inter away next in February in the quarterfinals.

In today's competition, the Europa League, the Biancocelesti were doing exceptionally well. Lazio were top of the 36-team group after 5 wins (Dynamo Kiev 3-0, Twente 2-0, Ajax 3-1 away, Nice 4-1 and Porto 2-1 at home) and a draw (Ludogorec 0-0 at home).

This evening was another difficult test against Basques Real Sociedad, a solid Spanish Liga side.

Real Sociedad had qualified for the tournament by finishing 6th in the league. The manager was Imanol Alguacil and "La Real" had also reached the Copa del Rey semi-finals (Mallorca on pens) and the Champions League last 16 (PSG 1-4) The top scorer was Mikel Oyarzabal with 13 goals (8 in liga).

This season Alguacil, a former player (1990-98), was still the manager. The main new players were defenders Nayef Aguerd (West-Ham - on loan), midfielder Luka Sučić (Salzburg) plus forwards Sergio Gómez (Manchester City) and Orri Óskarsson (FC Copenhagen).

Leaving were defenders Robin Le Normand (Atlético Madrid), Javi Galán (Atlético Madrid - end of loan) and Kieran Tierney (Arsenal - end of loan), midfielder Mikel Merino (Arsenal) plus forwards Carlos Fernandez (Cadiz - on loan) and André Silva (Leipzig - end of loan).

So far in the Liga the Basques had won 8 (including Barcelona 1-0 at home), drawn 4 and lost 8 (including the most recent game 0-1 at Valencia) and were in mid-table.

In the Copa del Rey they had reached the quarterfinals and would play Osasuna at home on February 6.

In the Europa League they had won 3 (Maccabi 2-1 away, Ajax 2-0 and Dynamo Kiev 3-0 at home), drawn 1 (Nice 1-1 away) and lost 2 (Anderlecht 1-2 at home and Viktoria Plzeň 1-2 away). They were on course to qualify in the top 24 but not the top 8 unless they won the last two games including this evening's.

The match: Thursday, January 23, 2025, Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Just under 35,000 turned up for this European clash. About 500 had come from San Sebastian.

Lazio had defenders Manuel Lazzari and Patric plus midfielder Matías Vecino out injured. The Biancocelesti also had defenders Samuel Gigot and Luca Pellegrini suspended.

The visitors had no absences.

The match started well for Lazio who after only five minutes were already in front. A long and high freekick into the area was headed away but up in the air by a defender and after a moment of confusion fell to Mario Gila who blasted it past Álex Remiro, 1-0.

In the 13th minute Boulaye Dia almost made it two but after good and agile movement his close-range shot was parried away for a corner by the keeper. On the corner Taty Castellanos rose high and headed downwards but the ball was cleared off the line by Brais Mendez and on the rebound Gila hit the post.

The Basques then had a reaction. In the 22nd minute an excellent curling shot from the right by Luka Sučić beat Chrīstos Mandas but came back off the left post. A few minutes later Sheraldo Becker had a good chance but his effort was lame and Mandas saved.

At the half hour mark came a potential game changer as “La Real" were reduced to ten men. Aihen Muñoz committed two intentional fouls on Gustav Isaksen in quick succession and was given his marching orders.

Lazio wasted no time in taking advantage of the situation. In the 32nd minute Isaksen went towards the left by-line and squared the ball back to Mattia Zaccagni who had time to control it and strike a low, precise shot into the far corner, 2-0.

Two minutes later the contest was practically over as Lazio made it three. Nuno Tavares crossed from the left and Castellanos got between two defenders, twisted his body and headed a sublime header into the far corner, 3-0.

The visitors then replaced midfielder Méndez with defender Javi López.

Lazio too were forced to make a substitution before halftime as Tavares limped off injured and on came Fisayo Dele-Bashiru. Lazio had no more defenders so Matteo Guendouzi went to right full-back, Adam Marusic switched to the left and Dele-Bashiru took the Frenchman's place in midfield.

3-0 at the break and the sensation that in the second half both sides would think more of their upcoming league games.

The "Txuri-urdin" made three more changes for the second half; Aritz Elustondo for Igor Zubeldia, Pablo Marín for Mikel Oyarzabal and Ander Barrenetxea for Japanese forward Takefusa Kubo while Lazio brought on veteran Pedro for Castellanos.

The game predictably slowed down as in the 55th minute Lazio too took off their most dangerous players Zaccagni and Isaksen for Tijjani Noslin and Loum Tchaouna.

In the 70th minute made their last substitution and replaced West-Ham loanee defender Nayef Aguerd with Jon Pacheco.

In the 75th minute the game was awoken by a blistering Pedro close range left-footed strike which almost broke the crossbar.

A minute later Mahamadou Balde (Keita Balde's brother) got his debut coming on for Dia.

In the 79th minute Tchaouna tried his luck from the right side of the area but his shot went just over the bar.

In the 82nd minute "Erreala" unexpectedly pulled a goal back. On a cross from the left the defence headed away but Keita was a bit slow reacting and was beaten to the ball by Jon Aramburu who crossed from the right side of the area, Mandas got a hand to it but it reached Barrenetxea anyway who headed in, 3-1.

It was a goal for the Basques honour and for the statistics as any doubts over the winner of this contest had disappeared after the first 35 minutes. Final score Lazio 3 Real Sociedad 1.

Another good win for Lazio who consolidated their dominance in the new look Europa League format. The Biancocelesti had played well albeit obviously helped by having the extra man for an hour. They however were already in the lead and had gone extremely close to a second.

The Basques had not started well and then just as they were starting to threaten they were forced to play in numerical inferiority and got punished immediately even before they could reorganise tactically.

Who played for Lazio

Mandas, Marusic, Gila, Romagnoli, Nuno Tavares (43' Dele-Bashiru), Guendouzi, Rovella, Isaksen (55' Noslin), Dia (76' Balde), Zaccagni (55' Tchaouna), Castellanos (46' Pedro)

Substitutes: Provedel, Furlanetto, Zazza

Manager: Baroni

Who played for Real Sociedad

Remiro, Aramburu, Zubeldia (46' Elustondo), Aguerd (70' Pacheco), Muñoz, Kubo (46' Barrenetxea), Zubimendi, Mendez (35' López), Oyarzabal (46' Marin), Sučić, Becker

Substitutes: Marrero, Odriozola, Oskarsson, Olasagasti, Gómez, Turrientes, Martin

Manager: Alguacil

Referee: Visser

Goals: 5' Gila, 32' Zaccagni, 34' Castellanos, 82' Barrenetxea

Red Card: 30' Munoz

What happened next

In the Europa League, despite losing the last game 0-1 at sporting Braga, Lazio topped the 36-team group. No small feat.

In the last 16 the Biancocelesti then defeated Viktoria Plzeň 3-2 on aggregate. Next up were Bodø-Glimt in the quarter-final.

On April 6 Lazio went north of the Arctic Circle to play the "Glimt" (Lightning). The Biancocelesti never came to grips with the artificial pitch and lost 0-2 but it could have been worse considering how Lazio played.

In the return game in Rome, Lazio took the Norwegians to extra-time, scored a third but then tired and conceded a goal which took the game to penalties. Lazio missed three out of five and were out. A huge disappointment.

In Serie A Lazio finished 7th and did not qualify for Europe. In the remaining 17 games they won 6 (including Milan 2-1 away), drew 8 (including derby 1-1 and Inter 2-2 away) and lost 3 (including Bologna 0-5 away). The nail in the coffin for their European ambitions was losing at home to Lecce 0-1 in the last game of the season. The top scorers were Taty Castellanos and Pedro with 14 goals each (10 in A).

In the Coppa Italia, Lazio lost 0-2 to Inter.

A promising start to the season but a negative end.

Real Sociedad then won their last game against PAOK 2-0 and qualified for the playoffs. They played Midtjylland and won 7-3 on aggregate. In the last 16 they met Manchester United and lost 2-5 on aggregate.

In the Liga, Real Sociedad finished 11th while in the Copa del Rey they beat Osasuna 2-0 but then lost to Real Madrid 4-5 on aggregate a.e.t. The top scorer was Oyarzabal with 18 goals (9 in Liga).

The Europa League was won by Tottenham who defeated Manchester United 1-0 in an appalling final. The level of this game in Bilbao only increased Lazio's regrets.

Let's talk about Mario Gila

Mario Gila Fuentes was born in Barcelona, on August 29, 2000.

As a boy his first club was Santa Perpètua, then Sabadell, Mollet, Damm and Espanyol.

In 2018 he left Catalunya and joined Real Madrid's youth setup.

From 2019 to 2022 he played for Real Madrid Castilla, the Blancos' B side. He played three seasons in the third tier and made 73 appearances with 5 goals. His coach was Real legend Raúl.

In 2021-22 he also made 2 league appearances for Real Madrid, under Carlo Ancelotti. The Merengues won the Liga, Champions League and the Spanish Super Cup.

In the summer of 2022 Gila joined Lazio. The manager was Maurizio Sarri and Gila only played 4 league games but played more in Europe, 5 games in the Europa League and 3 in the Conference League. Lazio finished 2nd in Serie A (CL).

In 2023-24 he played more regularly, 21 league games, 3 in Coppa Italia, 4 in Champions League (Lazio reached the last 16) and 1 in the Italian Supercoppa semi-final. Lazio finished 7th (EL) but Sarri resigned in March and Igor Tudor took over.

In 2024-25 Gila became the undisputed choice in the centre of Lazio's defence alongside Alessio Romagnoli. Under manager Marco Baroni, he made 43 appearances (32 in A) with 2 goals (Fiorentina, Real Sociedad). Lazio finished 7th, narrowly missing out on Europe. In the Europa League they had a fantastic group stage topping the 36-team group but eventually went out on penalties to Bodø-Glimt in the quarter-finals.

In 2025-26 Sarri returned to Lazio but the club were prevented by the football authorities from operating on the transfer market due to financial rules. Gila is playing regularly and putting in good performances but it could be his last season with Lazio as his contract runs out in June 2026 and he has requests from some big clubs plus low wages, a combination which makes his days in Rome seem numbered.

Gila is a central defender. He is 1.85 and 80 kilos. He is a good all-round defender. He is strong, fast, an excellent tackler and solid in the air. He can also organise the game from the back and often makes darting runs forward giving Lazio superiority in midfield. A superb defender who, given Lazio's financial situation, is destined to have a luminous career but probably elsewhere.

Lazio Career

Season	Games (goals)	Serie A	Coppa Italia	Champions League	Europa League	Conference League	Super Coppa
2022-23	12	4	-	-	5	3	-
2023-24	29	21	3	4	-	-	1
2024-25	43 (2)	32 (1)	1	-	10 (1)	-	-
2025-26	21	20	1	-	-	-	-
Total	84 (2)	57 (1)	4	4	15 (1)	3	1