Pre-Season Friendly
Friday, July 18, 2003
Stadio Flaminio, Rome
Lazio Chelsea 2-0
Lazio beat Chelsea in an early pre-season friendly
The summer pre season training was underway and this match was the first friendly in Rome.
The match
Great emotion and sadness at the beginning of the game with the minute's silence in memory of Sandro Ciotti, historic radio football journalist, former Lazio youth player and, as he said when he retired, a Lazio fan.
Jaap Stam after just three minutes had an opportunity but from a favourable position his shot was walled by a defender. A few minutes later Sinisa Mihajlovic, maybe remembering his famous goal at Stamford Bridge three years earlier, hit the crossbar on a free kick.
In the 12th Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink tried to surprise the Lazio defence directly from a corner kick but Massimo Oddo saved on the line. An exciting match with a very high rhythm, one could not really tell this was a July pre-season match. In the 32nd minute Lazio scored. Fabio Liverani passed to Oddo on the right wing, cross into the middle and Simone Inzaghi acrobatically put the ball behind Carlo Cudicini.
Lazio on top and Chelsea struggling in the second half as the Londoners in the first 30 minutes had great difficulty in being dangerous. And it was the Biancocelesti to score again in the 51st. Claudio Lopez took a free kick, cross in the box and Dejan Stankovic headed the ball into the net.
Lazio in good form, Chelsea with still a lot of work to do.
Who played for Lazio
Peruzzi, Oddo, Stam (70' Colonnese), Mihajlovic (46' Couto), Favalli (25' Corradi, 90' Zauri), Fiore (64' Rivaldo), Stankovic (70' D.Baggio), Liverani (46' Giannichedda), Cesar (90' Dabo), S. Inzaghi (75' Gottardi), C. Lopez (70' Castroman).
Manager: Mancini
Who played for Chelsea
Cudicini, Melchiot, Babayaro, Jonhson (83' Kitamirike), Huth, Gronkjaer, Lampard, Zenden, Stanic (46' Cole), Grudjohnsen (46' Forssell), Hasselbaink (68' Kneissl)
Substitutes: Ambrosio, Di Cesare
Manager: Ranieri
Referee: Gabriele
Goals: 32’ Inzaghi, 51’ Stankovic
Sources
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