Napoli win thanks also to the ref
Updated: Sep 13
Game 5, Serie A
Saturday, September 3, 2022
Rome, Stadio Olimpico
Lazio Napoli 1-2
Napoli came from behind to beat Lazio but the Biancocelesti werecertainly not happy with the referee.
The teams
Surprisingly Maurizio Sarri confirmed the 11 that had drawn with Sampdoria. “I want to give the team an identity before I start to rotate players”, he said before the match. Luciano Spalletti, after doing too much turnover in the game drawn at home with Lecce, went back to the formation of the first three games of the season.
Lazio in front early
Lazio scored almost immediately. In the 4th minute Felipe Anderson went down on the right and sent the ball across. Mattia Zaccagni picked it up just outside the penalty box, controlled it, shot. 1-0 for Lazio.
At this point Lazio stopped playing and handed over the control of the game to Napoli who however did nothing in the first 30 minutes. After that, it was an onslaught.
In the 34th minute Sergej Milinkovi-Savic lost the ball outside the penalty box, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia went in and shot but Ivan Provedel saved. Three minutes later the Georgian received the ball half way in the Lazio half, went forward, shot and hit the woodwork.
Napoli’s goal was coming. Corner kick for the Neapolitans, Piotr Zielinski crossed the ball in, Kim Min-jae pushed Luis Alberto away and headed the ball onto the inside post. Provedel managed to push the ball out but the Goal Line Technology said the ball was over the line.
Foul? “Kim pushed Luis Alberto away so he had no opposition when he headed the ball. If this was done before the corner was kicked, then it had to be repeated. If this was done after, then it was a free kick for Lazio”, said Sarri at the end of the game. A similar goal by Monza had been disallowed a few weeks before, but not this one.
In the 44th minute Adam Marusic and Hirving Lozano clashed heads jumping for the ball. Big cut for the Lazio player but he could continue, the Mexican however was forced to leave the pitch. He was replaced by Matteo Politano.
Napoli onslaught
Could Lazio reorganise in the second half and start playing again? No. In the 48th minute Politano got past Marusic and rushed towards the Lazio penalty box. Ball to Kvaratskhelia but Provedel saved. Two minutes later, the Georgian crossed for Zielinski and Provedel saved again. Another two minutes and Giovanni Di Lorenzo crossed for Victor Osimhen who was anticipated by Patric. The ball was still in the air and this time it was the Nigerian who anticipated the Spaniard. Lazio were saved by the woodwork again. In the 51st minute Zielinski sent the ball in to Kvaratskhelia who shot wide from a very favourable position.
Lazio had to change something and so in the 53rd minute in came Matias Vecino and Pedro for Luis Alberto and Zaccagni. Napoli looked as if they were taking their foot off the accelerator but it was just an illusion.
In the 62nd minute Politano sent in André Anguissa on the right of the penalty box. He looked up and passed the ball in the middle for Kvaratskhelia who smashed the ball in. Napoli were ahead.
Controversy, again
At this point Lazio woke up. They timidly gained control of possession and started creating some danger. In the 67th minute Felipe Anderson passed the ball to Manuel Lazzari in the penalty box. The Lazio right-back was faster than Mario Rui, the Portuguese knew it, so to stop him he used his elbow. Penalty? No.
Was it a penalty? Without any doubt. Why did VAR not intervene? According to the refereeing experts on Italian media, VAR could not intervene because, since the ref did not have his vision impaired, he had no problem in effectively evaluating what had happened. But, as Sarri pointed out, “If the referee fucks up, VAR has to intervene”. It sounded logical. Just a few days before in Genoa, VAR had called the referee and asked him to evaluate on the video screen a potential penalty for Sampdoria despite the fact that the ref had clearly decided it was not a penalty. So, who was getting it wrong? There was another hypothesis but we will talk about that later.
The game went quiet. Lazio attacked but confusedly and Napoli tried the counter attack without much profit. The Biancazzurri had two chances: in the 71st minute Danilo Cataldi took a free kick and crossed the ball into the box. Felipe Anderson’s backward header was saved by Alex Meret. In the first minute of injury time Pedro’s shot went just wide.
What Sarri said
At the end of the game Sarri had some very harsh words for the referee. “He is either bad at his job or there is something else. From the beginning of the season the referees have been biased against us. They have even told us as much. In Turin the referee said to me that we protested too much in the match against Bologna and therefore we should expect to be punished. They keep booking us and even today we had too many players with yellow cards. Something must be done by the governing body.”
By the way, the referee for Torino Lazio was Michael Fabbri. He was in charge of VAR that night. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck …
Napoli deserved to win. They were the better team. But …
Who played for Lazio
Provedel, Lazzari (83' Hysaj), Patric, Romagnoli, Marusic, Milinkovic-Savic, Cataldi (75' Basic), Luis Alberto (53' Vecino), Felipe Anderson (83' Cancellieri), Immobile, Zaccagni (53' Pedro).
Substitutes: Luis Maximiano, Adamonis, Casale, Gila, Radu, Kamenovic, Marcos Antonio, Bertini, Romero
Manager: Sarri
Who played for Napoli
Meret, Di Lorenzo, Rrahamani, Kim, Mario Rui (90'+2' Olivera), Anguissa, Lobotka (90'+2' Ndombele), Zielinski (68' Elmas), Lozano (45'+3' Politano), Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia (68' Raspadori)
Substitutes: Sirigu, Marfella, Juan Jesus, Ostigard, Zanoli, Zerbin, Simeone, Gaetano
Manager: Spalletti
Referee: Sozza
Goals: 4' Zaccagni, 37' Kim, 61' Kvaratskhelia
Bookings: Milinkovic-Savic, Cataldi, Felipe Anderson, Marusic
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