Fair draw but shocking referee

Dag Jenkins
Dec 29, 2023
4 min read

Updated: Jan 5

Season 2018-19

Game 14, Serie A

Saturday, December 29, 2018

Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Lazio Torino 1-1

Lazio and Torino share the spoils in hard fought draw but Lazio not pleased with referee

In Serie A Lazio were currently 4th on 31 points. The Biancocelesti had won 9 (including the last two), drawn 4 and lost 5 (including derby 1-3).

Torino were in 8th place, on 26 points. They had won 6 (including the most recent game 3-0 at home to Empoli), drawn 8 (including Inter 2-2 and Milan 0-0 both away) and lost 4 (including the derby with Juventus 0-1 at home).

Not an easy game for Lazio against a solid upper-middle table side. Torino were still unbeaten in all eleven away games.

The match

A cloudy afternoon with occasional rays of pale sun attracted about 35,000 spectators to the Olimpico.

Neither Lazio nor Torino had any real absences.

The first chance fell to Lorenzo De Silvestri but his header from a Cristian Ansaldi cross came back off the crossbar.

Lazio were then well on top in the first half hour and forced Torino to play in their own half. The Biancocelesti's main chance fell to Ciro Immobile but he was denied by an excellent Salvatore Sirigu save.

Immobile had another golden opportunity in the 30th minute but in front of Sirigu his attempt to lob the keeper went just wide.

Lazio were playing their third game in seven days and Torino gradually came out of their shell and the game became more balanced.

In added time the visitors took the lead. In the first minute of injury time the referee awarded the Granata a penalty for a naive but ever so light nudge by Adam Marusic on Andrea Belotti. The referee Irrati had a chat with Orsato in the VAR room and after a couple of minutes confirmed his decision. Belotti took the spot kick and Thomas Strakosha guessed his intentions and even touched the ball but it found the net anyway, 0-1 at halftime.

Soon after the re-start, in the 51st minute, Toro made their first change bringing on Emiliano Moretti for Armando Izzo who had already been booked and was lucky to avoid a second.

In the 57th minute Inzaghi took off defender Stefan Radu and put on midfielder Lucas Leiva.

In the 60th minute the Granata almost doubled their lead when former Lazio and childhood Lazio fan De Silvestri had time and space to beat Strakosha after a lucky deflection but instead of controlling the ball he hit it first time and hammered the seemingly simple chance over the bar.

Two minutes later the Biancocelesti equalised. Leiva gave the ball to Sergej Milinkovic-Savic who sent a blistering shot into the top hand corner, a fantastic strike and 1-1.

In the 64th minute Simone Inzaghi strangely decided to replace forward Joaquín Correa with Brazilian defender Wallace.

Following the equaliser Lazio began to get the upper hand again. The visitors had to thank defender Koffi Djidji if they did not fall behind in this period. The French-Ivorian defender single handedly denied Milinkovic-Savic, Luis Alberto and Immobile from scoring at least four times either with last ditch tackles or blocking shots with various parts of his body.

In the 71st minute Toro had replaced Daniele Baselli with another midfielder Saša Lukić.

In the 74th minute Lazio had a penalty appeal for a push by Soualiho Meite on Francesco Acerbi as he was about to shoot. The contact appeared much heavier and clearer than the one leading to Torino's penalty but Irrati was uninterested. The Lazio players, directors and fans were up in arms.

In the 75th minute the Piedmontese had a big chance of their own to go in front again. Wallace clumsily lost possession and Toro burst off four against two on the counterattack. Meite however was selfish and rather than using the numbers to out manoeuvre the flimsy Lazio backline he decided to go solo and wasted the chance. Now it was Mazzarri who was furious on the touchline.

De Silvestri then hit the woodwork again this time the post from a header following a corner.

In the 83rd minute the Granata lost Moretti through injury and on came Lyanco. A minute later Felipe Caicedo replaced Luis Alberto for Lazio.

Two minutes later Lazio were reduced to ten men. In the 86th minute Marusic got his marching orders for a second yellow for a foul only Irrati had seen and just when Lazio were surging forward on the break.

From the 90th minute Torino too were forced to play in ten men. Tomás Rincón hacked Senad Lulic down and was booked but some pushing and shoving ensued and Meite must have exaggerated and was sent off.

The game ended 1-1. Both sides could have won so a point each was probably a fair outcome. Lazio however were seething over some of the refereeing decisions especially on the penalty issues. Lazio had already been heavily penalised by the referees the previous season so it was a sort of reopening of the wounds.

Lazio were still 4th on 32 points but now only one ahead of Milan and Roma who had both won.

Torino were now 9th on 27 points, overtaken by Atalanta (6-2 at Sassuolo!)

Who played for Lazio

Strakosha, Luiz Felipe, Acerbi, Radu (57' Leiva), Marusic, Parolo, Milinkovic-Savic, Lulic, Correa (64' Wallace), Luis Alberto (84' Caicedo), Immobile