Correa to the rescue at hell's door

Season 2018-19

Game 13, Serie A

Sunday, November 25, 2018

Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Lazio Milan 1-1

A last second equaliser by Correa gives Lazio a deserved point against the visiting devils keeping the one point advantage in the table.

Lazio and Milan had the same objective for 2018-19; a place in Champions League, as a 4th place finish was realistically the most either side could hope for.

Lazio and Milan had similar starts to the season. Lazio were 4th despite defeats against Napoli, Juventus, Inter and Roma but wins against minnows pushed them up to a healthy position.

Milan were only one point behind and they too had lost the big games against Napoli, Inter and Juventus. This clash on November 25 was thus considered of crucial importance in the race to the prestige and money of Champions League.

The match

The game played in front of a 40,000 crowd was evenly balanced in the first half. Lazio had more possession and territorial superiority but did not really transform it into chances. It was in fact Milan who came closest to scoring with Hakan Calhanoglu hitting the woodwork with a curling effort which Thomas Strakosha got his fingers to, deflecting it onto the left post. Lazio then also had chances with Marco Parolo and Ciro Immobile but confirmed their difficulties against very defensive line-ups.

The second half was in the same mould. Lazio commanded the operations but found it impossible to break down Milan's well-organised defence. Both sides did however have opportunities; Fabio Borini for Milan had a good shot saved by Strakosha and at the other end Gigi Donnarumma pulled off a miraculous, instinctive save on a Wallace header.

Lazio continued to attack but it was Milan who got the lucky break. A shot by Franck Kessie took a deflection off Wallace and completely wrong footed the Lazio keeper to give the visitors the lead. Lazio predictably intensified their efforts. Simone Inzaghi meanwhile, even before Milan's goal, had substituted Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Luis Alberto with Jordan Lukaku and Joaquin Correa and in the last 10 minutes he would throw on another striker, Ecuadorian Felipe Caicedo. Milan, on the other hand, strangely played out the game with their starting XI line-up.

Lazio's final surge seemed to be running out of time when they were rewarded for their efforts in the dying seconds. The match was into the 4th minute of added time, out of the 5 given, when Correa lurking at the edge of the box domesticated the ball with his thigh and then with a low right footed volley beat Donnarumma. Wild celebrations followed and Lazio were obviously more satisfied than Milan about sharing a point. Lazio too however in the post match interviews had difficulty in deciding whether the “one-point glass” was half full or half empty. It had kept Milan at bay for another week and had come in dramatic fashion but there was also an underlying feeling of a missed opportunity.

Who played for Lazio

Strakosha, Wallace, Acerbi, Radu (82' Caicedo), Marusic, Parolo, Badelj, Milinkovic -Savic (64' Lukaku), Lulic, Luis Alberto (64' Correa), Immobile