Pre season friendly
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Lazio PAOK Thessaloniki 2-0
Lazio put on a good performance despite the heat in the first Roman pre-season friendly.
Lazio had to play without Lorenzo De Silvestri and Tommaso Rocchi who were at the Olympic games (Rocchi was unfortunately injured and was coming back), but this first glimpse of the team was, however, going to be interesting for the 20,000 fans.
The game opened with a cracker after just three minutes. With the help of Cristian Ledesma, Francelino Matuzalem stole a ball off Ricardo Veron then whacked it from 25 metres into the top hand corner.
After the goal Lazio continued to push. Stephen Makinwa shaved the crossbar and then almost scored with a header following a great Matuzalem-Goran Pandev one-two which allowed Stefano Mauri to cross. The Macedonian also had a chance after he slalomed through the PAOK defence but missed. The Greeks also had their opportunities to equalise and after Lichsteiner stopped a Vierinha shot, Vladimir Ivic had a goal disallowed for offside, a tap in after Juan Pablo Carrizo had saved a Sergio Conceicao shot.
The second half opened like the first but this time it was Mourad Meghni to score in the 47th minute. After dribbling a Greek defender, he aimed for the far post and made it 2-0 for Lazio. The game petered out after this but the fans had the chance to see their new star player, Mauro Zarate, who played the second half.
Delio Rossi was happy with the performance that gave great hope for the upcoming season.
Who played for Lazio
Carrizo (66’ Muslera), Lichtsteiner (59’ Diakite), Siviglia (77’ Faraoni), Rozenhal (46’ Cribari), Radu (75’ Manfredini), Meghni (88’ Cinelli), Ledesma, Matuzalem (46’ Dabo), Pandev (57’ Foggia), Mauri (92’ Mendicino), Makinwa (46’ Zarate)
Manager: D. Rossi
Who played for PAOK Thessaloniki
Chalkias, Sznaucner (46' Arabatzis), Contreras (46' Marcos), Malezas, Darlas (60' Kostantinidis), Veron, Balafas, Sergio Conceicao (60' Lakis), Ivic, Vierinha (46' Georgiu), Muslimovic (46' Bakayoko).
Substitutions: Arampatzis, Athanasiadis, Anastasakos, Iliadis.
Manager: Santos.
Referee: Giancola
Goals: 3’ Matuzalem, 47’ Meghni
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