July 28, 2018: Lazio Spal 3-0, Friendly
- Simon Basten
- Jul 28
- 5 min read
Good win
In a summer classic, Lazio crush Spal in the second half
Also on this day:
The season so far
The previous season Lazio had been heavily penalised by the introduction of the VAR. The referees took it in turns to not use it when Lazio played or to use it in the wrong way. But Lazio had played well and, as usual, just missed out of a Champions League qualification, arriving fifth, losing the decisive match at home against Inter.
The star signing of the summer so far was Francesco Acerbi, who took the vacant place in the centre of defence left by Stefan De Vrij who had gone to Inter as a free agent refusing to sign a new contract for Lazio, and, Joaquin Correa, exciting Argentinian player from Sevilla, was also about to arrive substituting Felipe Anderson sold to West Ham United.
The Biancocelesti were in the pre-season training at Auronzo di Cadore. They had already played three games winning all of them. Today they faced Serie A club Spal.
The match: Saturday, July 28, 2018, Stadio Rodolfo Zandegiacomo, Auronzo di Cadore
Lazio were forced to play without Thomas Strakosha, Adam Marusic and Valon Berisha whereas Spal were missing Thiago Cionek, Mohamed Fares and Sergio Floccari. This was the fourth year Lazio had played Spal in preseason training at Auronzo di Cadore, so by now it was a summer classic.
After a few shots off target from Luis Alberto and Lucas Leiva, it was Manuel Lazzari in the 27th minute who had a chance face to face with Silvio Proto who made an excellent save. Again, Spal were dangerous on a Lazzari cross which nobody was able to deflect towards the Lazio goal. In the 44th minute Luis Alberto took a shot on a free kick, Demba Thiam saved into corner with the help of the crossbar.
An intense first half though not very spectacular.
The fireworks came in the second 45 minutes. In the 53rd minute defender Felipe made a bad pass, Ciro Immobile got hold of the ball and was lethal as usual.
Spal reacted and Federico Viviani three times tried to beat Proto who managed to save every time. The numerous substitutions took away a bit of steam from the game but Patric hit the woodwork on a surface to air missile in the 75th minute and Lazio scored again seven minutes later. Riza Durmisi crossed, Joseph Minala tried to shoot but was challenged by a defender, the ball arrived to Felipe Caicedo. His first attempt was saved by the keeper but the ball bounced off him and went in.
In the 90th minute Guido Guerrieri sent a long ball towards the left, Durmisi ran forward and close to the box crossed into the middle where Alessandro Rossi made it three.
Good game for Lazio.
Who played for Lazio
Proto (65’ Guerrieri), Wallace (65’ Bastos), Acerbi (85’ Filippini), Radu (65’ Luiz Felipe), Basta (65’ Patric), Parolo (65’ Minala), Leiva (65’ Di Gennaro), Murgia (65’ Cataldi), Lulic (65’ Durmisi), Luis Alberto (65’ Caicedo), Immobile (65’ Rossi)
Manager: Inzaghi
Who played for Spal
Thiam (80' Poluzzi), Väisänen (85' Coulange), Vicari (46' Salamon), Felipe (80' Cremonesi), Lazzari (65' Dickmann), Everton Luiz (60' Vitale), Schiattarella (46' Viviani), Kurtic (46' Valoti), Costa (85' Esposito), Antenucci (60 Moncini), Paloschi (46' Petagna)
Manager: Semplici
Referee: Zufferli
Goals: 53’ Immobile, 82’ Caicedo, 90’ Rossi
What happened next
After a difficult start, with losses to Napoli and Juventus, Lazio had come back with a winning streak of four wins only to lose the derby in probably the worst game ever under Simone Inzaghi. Unable to come to terms with the bigger teams, Lazio also occasionally struggled with the smaller ones. The big players such as Luis Alberto and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic were not playing up to par.
They tried to keep the Champions League qualification dream alive as long as possible. But surprise losses against Genoa and Spal away plus the disastrous defeat at home against an already relegated Chievo, lessened the impact of great wins in the derby and away against Inter. Lazio effectively gave up after the home defeat against Atalanta with three matches still to go.
In Europa League Lazio qualified for the knock-out phase but lost against Sevilla, despite the fact that an obvious penalty which could have been a game changer was not given to the Biancocelesti. VAR was yet to be introduced for the European trophy.
But there was glory.
In Coppa Italia, Lazio first knocked out Novara in January and then faced Inter in Milan for the single-legged quarter-finals. Immobile put Lazio in the lead in the first half of extra time, but a ridiculous penalty was awarded to Inter in the second minute of injury time of the second half. The penalty shootout went Lazio’s way and Lazio had to face Milan in the semi-final. A second half goal from Correa in the second leg was the passport for the final at the Stadio Olimpico against Atalanta.
The final was won by Lazio with goals by Milinkovic-Savic and Correa in the second half. Hence, Lazio qualified for the 2019-20 Europa League and the Supercoppa.
Let’s talk about Alessandro Rossi
Alessandro Rossi is a typical example of a player who at youth level looks like a phenomenon but once he enters the adult world, is unable to fulfil all of that promise.
Born on January 3, 1997 in Viterbo. At Primavera level he was a very highly considered forward. He debuted in Serie A on January 8 2017 in the home game against Crotone. He made three appearances that season. In 2017-18 he joined Salernitana in Serie B but despite making 27 appearances, scored just two goals. Back at Lazio in 2018 he made a couple of appearances in Europa League before joining Venezia in Serie B in January 2019. He was then loaned to Viterbese, Monopoli, Monterosi Tuscia, Legnago and Guidonia Montecelio, all in the Serie C or D, playing seldomly and scoring even less.
A pity, because early on he looked as if he was going to be a top player.
Lazio Career
Sources
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