July 26, 2020: Hellas Verona Lazio 1-5
- Simon Basten
- Jul 26, 2023
- 8 min read
Updated: Jul 26
Immobile Immobile Immobile
Three goals from Immobile take him closer to the European Golden Boot
Also on this day:
The season so far
We have only just recently spoken about this season and we will be doing so again in a couple of days so for this time we will concentrate on the match. Lazio had already reached Champions League qualification in the previous game against Cagliari. For the first time since 2007-08 the Biancocelesti would be playing the top European competition. Now the main objective was to allow Ciro Immobile to score as many goals as possible since he was competing with Robert Lewandowski for the European Golden Boot, an award given each season to the leading goal scorer in league matches from the top division of a European national league. In the last ten years Lionel Messi has won 6, Cristiano Ronaldo 3 (including a shared one) and Luis Suarez two (one shared with Ronaldo).
The match: Sunday, July 26, 2020, Stadio Bentegodi, Verona
Verona started really well and in the 12th minute had a chance. Davide Faraoni, former Lazio, crossed from the right, Mattia Zaccagni, future Lazio, anticipated Patric but his shot was easily saved by Thomas Strakosha. In the 14th minute Lazio appeared up front for the first time with Immobile, whose shot from outside the box was just slightly too high. In the 23rd minute Luis Alberto to Joaquin Correa on the left, ball to Ciro Immobile in the box, Faraoni intercepted into corner but very near the Verona post. In the 26th minute a shot by Miguel Veloso was saved into corner by Strakosha and five minutes later, after a free kick taken by Luis Alberto, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic’s shot shaved the crossbar.
It seemed Lazio were in control and that the goal was imminent, but instead it went the other way. Zaccagni stole the ball from Luiz Felipe who allegedly tripped him up in the box. It looked, at most, accidental but the referee gave the penalty. Sofyan Amrabat took the spot kick and put Hellas in front.
Lazio equalised in the second minute of injury time. Immobile got kneed in the stomach in the box by Darko Lazovic but the referee ignored the foul until he was called by VAR to have a look at what had happened. The penalty was blatant and King Ciro scored the spot kick. Verona 1 Lazio 1.
The Biancocelesti started the second half with the clear intention of winning. In the 49th minute Djavan Anderson crossed from the left towards the far post, Milinkovic-Savic headed the ball towards centre and Francesco Acerbi’s header shaved the post. Verona responded and two minutes later a cross in the box by Lazovic was deflected by Luiz Felipe and hit the woodwork.
Lazio went ahead in the 56th minute. Free kick for Lazio taken by Milinkovic-Savic, ball deflected by Matteo Pessina and the Verona keeper was beaten. After a Fabio Borini shot saved by Strakosha in the 60th minute, the Biancocelesti made it three in the 63rd. Milinkovic-Savic to Correa in the box on the left, control, shot, 3-1.
Hellas could have reduced the deficit in the 78th minute. Lazovic crossed from the left and Eddie Salcedo, unmarked, headed the ball towards the Lazio goal but a spectacular save from Strakosha kept Lazio’s double lead.
In the 83rd minute, Jordan Lukaku, who had substituted Djavan Anderson in the 65th minute, passed to Immobile just inside the box on the far left. A fantastic shot on the far post and Lazio went 4-1. What a goal!!!
In the third minute of injury time Lazio made it five. André Anderson to Immobile who ran into the box and was fouled by Boris Radunovic. Penalty for Lazio and King Ciro completed his hat trick.
Game over. Not an easy match for Lazio but Immobile was on fire tonight and has now scored 34 league goals, just two away from the Italian record set by Gonzalo Higuain. He also overtook Lewandowski in the Golden Boot race.
Who played for Verona
Radunovic, Veloso, Rrhamani, Gunter, Faraoni (79' Di Marco), Pessina, Amrabat, Lazovic, Borini (67' Di Carmine), Zaccagni (67' Salcedo), Eysseric
Substitutes: Silvestri, Berardi, Badu, Stepinski, Lucas Felippe, Terracciano
Manager: Juric
Who played for Lazio
Strakosha, Patric (65’ Vavro), Luiz Felipe, Acerbi, Marusic (88’ Armini), Milinkovic-Savic (88’ A. Anderson), Parolo, Luis Alberto, D. Anderson (65’ Lukaku), Correa (68’ Caicedo), Immobile
Manager: S. Inzaghi
Referee: Volpi
Goals: 39’ Amrabat, 45+6’ Immobile (pen), 56’ Milinkovic-Savic, 63’ Correa, 84’ Immobile, 90+4’ Immobile (pen).
What happened next
Lazio reached fourth place, Immobile won the Golden Boot and by scoring another two goals equalised Higuain’s record. So a good season but Lazio before Covid were a very strong contender for the scudetto. Alas, when football returned after lock down, injuries, lack of depth in the squad, and poor form did not allow the dream to be fulfilled.
Let's talk about Ciro Immobile
Numbers talk:
Player who has scored most goals for Lazio in all official competitions
Player who has scored most goals for Lazio in Serie A
Player who has scored most goals for Lazio in UEFA Cup/Europa League
Player who has scored most goals for Lazio in UEFA competitions
Lazio player, along with Beppe Signori, who has been Serie A top scorer most times
One of three players to have won the trophy for top Serie A scorer with two different teams (the others being Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Luca Toni)
Player, together with Gonzalo Higuain, to have scored most goals in a season in Serie A
First Italian Serie A player to have scored at least 25 league goals three times. The other two were foreigners Gunnar Nordhal and Istvan Nyers
Player in activity with most goals scored in Serie A
We could stop here, but there is a bio to write.
Ciro Immobile was born in Torre Annunziata near Naples on February 20 1990. He started his career in the youth teams of Salernitana but he did not stand out. He then moved to play for Sorrento and scored 30 goals in the Allievi (14-16 year olds). Juventus set their eyes on him and at 17 he joined the Bianconeri. Juve won the prestigious Viareggio Tournament in 2009 thanks to an Immobile double in the final. He debuted in Serie A on March 14 2009 coming on for Alessandro Del Piero in injury time towards the end of Juventus Bologna 4-1. Later on in the year, in November, he also debuted in the Champions League against Bordeaux. He would end up with four appearances that season in all competitions.
In July 2010 he signed for Siena in Serie B on loan but he did not play much so in January he moved to Grosseto where he played a little more but only scored one goal. The big life changer for Ciro took place in the summer of 2011 when he signed for Pescara, again on loan. Together with future greats Marco Verratti and Lorenzo Insigne, and under the guidance of Zdenek Zeman, they took Pescara back to Serie A and won the championship. Immobile was Serie B top scorer with 28 goals.
In the summer of 2012 Genoa bought half of Immobile and Ciro moved to Liguria. Not a good season for him: 34 league appearances but only 5 goals. At the end of the campionato, Juventus re-acquired the other half and sold it to Torino. Together with his attacking partner Alessio Cerci and under the guidance of Gian Piero Ventura, Torino reached a Europa League qualification and Immobile scored 22 goals, top Serie A scorer.
Torino purchased the other half of Immobile and sold him to Borussia Dortmund. He played 34 games with 10 goals (4 in Champions League) in a difficult season for the Germans. He also had a few problems getting used to the new way of life. In the summer of 2015 he was loaned to Sevilla but in six months he played just 15 games (four goals) and had problems with the manager. For the remaining part of the season he was loaned back to Torino but did not leave a significant mark.
In July 2016 he signed for Lazio. On a personal note, I had wanted this to happen since Ciro’s Pescara days. He may not be pretty to watch but he has the gift of often being in the right place at the right time and scores goals. He just had to find the right kind of environment and club which could allow him to express himself at his best. Lazio was the right club and Ciro Immobile became King. With the Biancocelesti he won a Coppa Italia (2018-19) and two Super Coppas (2017 and 2019), scoring with amazing consistency. Ciro scored in every possible way: headers, volleys, shots from outside the box, left or right foot. There were only a couple of years in which he did not score more than 20 goals and that was due to injuries. In 2020 Immobile won the Golden Boot, an award given each season to the leading goal scorer in league matches from the top divisions of the European national leagues.
In the last couple of seasons at Lazio his striking rate decreased. He missed a lot of games in 2022-23 due to injury and struggled in 2023-24 to find form and consistency. But one has to point out that in the last season the Biancocelesti had a hard time creating chances and this did not help.
In July 2024 he received a good offer from Beşiktaş and, after speaking with the club, decided to accept. He left Lazio after eight years in the same year that Luis Alberto and Felipe Anderson also left, a year after Sergej Milinkovic-Savic decided to go to Saudi Arabia. The end of an era at Lazio.
His year in Turkey started well, scoring a brace in the 5-0 win in the Turkish Super Cup against Galatasaray. But as the season progressed he scored less and less, so at the end he left and joined Bologna for 2025-26.
Immobile has also been very useful for the Nazionale though he has not scored as much. But, as most Lazio fans know, the whole game must revolve around Ciro for him to be effective. Even Maurizio Sarri re-adapted his tactics to exploit this goal-scoring machine. This has never happened in Nazionale. Despite this, Ciro has scored 15 goals for Italy and won a European Championship. He is also the media’s favourite scapegoat for whenever something goes wrong, just like Giorgio Chinaglia was back in the 1970s. He has 57 caps with Italy and 17 goals.
For Lazio fans he will always be our captain, our champion and our King and will stay in our hearts forever.
Lazio Career
Sources
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