The King is back

Simon Basten

Feb 16, 2023

3 min read

Updated: 1 day ago

2022-23 Season

Conference League

Knockout Round Play-offs

Thursday, February 16, 2023

Next Match

Rome. Stadio Olimpico

Lazio CFR Cluj 1-0

Magnificent goal from Immobile gives Lazio a deserved win. The Biancocelesti were forced to play with ten men following a ridiculous refereeing decision.

The team

Maurizio Sarri opted for a minimal turnover and gave the keys of the goal to Luis Maximiano and the keys of midfield to Marcos Antonio. As a consequence Matias Vecino took the place of Luis Alberto. Manuel Lazzari was preferred over Adam Marusic and Patric replaced injured Alessio Romagnoli. Ciro Immobile was in the centre of the attack

The match

Lazio started strongly and Cluj were immediately on the defensive. In the 4th minute there was a one-two Vecino-Immobile, Vecino had a difficult chance on the far left of the penalty area, his shot was however very wide.

In the 8th minute a big chance for Sergej Milinkovic-Savic. Elseid Hysaj crossed into the box from the left, the big Serb stopped the ball with his chest and shot but directly towards the Cluj goalkeeper.

In the 15th minute the major game changer. Ermal Krasniqi took the ball off Lazzari, then moved past Milinkovic-Savic, Marcus Antonio and Nicolò Casale. . At this point Patric decided to prevent the Kosovarian from being dangerous and fouled him. Referee Craig Pawson showed the Spaniard a red card.

No way had that been a red card foul. It had not been a goal scoring possibility and Patric had not been the last man standing. Furthermore the Cluj player had been moving off towards the right and not to the centre, so there was no justification for the sending off. A yellow card would have been the right decision.

Unfortunately Sarri was forced to take Marcos Antonio off the field and throw on Mario Gila. Lazio changed to a more cautious 4-4-1 with Felipe Anderson and Mattia Zaccagni on the midfield wings. It took the Biancocelsti a few minutes to get things organised, but Cluj were never dangerous.

Lazio took control and started manoeuvring in attack but it took them a while to become effective. In the 45th minute Felipe Anderson tried to get the ball to Milinkovic-Savic on the right of the penalty box but failed. The ball got back to him and he moved into the box. Back heel pass to Milinkovic-Savic who shot at the goalkeeper, again.

In the third minute of injury time there was a free kick for Lazio. Felipe Anderson chipped the ball over the wall towards Immobile who with a mighty volley gave Lazio a deserved lead. Great pass, magnificent goal. The King was back.

Second half

It was a rather quiet second half. Lazio seemed to be content with controlling the game, Cluj just did not have the strength to create anything particularly dangerous. All Maximiano had to do was merely be careful not to make any mistakes and anticipate the Romanian forwards on the high balls.

Lazio did have a couple of chances. In the 55th minute Felipe Anderson advanced on the counter attack and passed the ball to Milinkovic-Savic. The Serb set up Zaccagni for the Italian’s classic play but there were too many players in the box. Zaccagni at that point intelligently lobbed the ball over the Cluj defence and it was in a perfect position for a Serbian whack, outside the box but central. But Sergej decided on placing the ball and it was a simple save for Simone Scuffet.

In the 65th minute corner for Lazio. Zaccagni, finally, managed to get in a good cross and Vecino headed the ball towards the far post. Felipe Anderson was ready for the tap in but he was preceded first by Scuffet, who managed to touch the ball, and then by Camora who saved on the line.

Nothing else happened and Lazio had the advantage. The return match was to be held in a week's time and it would certainly be a different game.

Referees in Europe this year

Ridiculous penalty given to Feyernood in the first Europa League game, ridiculous Lazzari sending off in the fourth, ridiculous goal allowed to Feyernood in the last group game which meant that Lazio were relegated to Conference League plus today’s controversial decision. Are the UEFA refs trying to tell us something? Or are they just plain awful?

Who played for Lazio

Maximiano, Lazzari, Casale, Patric, Hysaj (60' Marusic), Milinkovic-Savic, Marcos Antonio (18' Gila), Vecino, Felipe Anderson (82' Cancellieri), Immobile (60' Pedro), Zaccagni