Rocchi salvages late draw

Dag Jenkins
Oct 20, 2023
3 min read

Season 2004-05

Game 1, UEFA Cup Group E

Thursday, October 21, 2004

Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Lazio Villarreal 1-1

On a difficult night Lazio strike late on against ten-man Villarreal

In this evening's competition, the UEFA Cup, the Biancocelesti had got through the playoff defeating Metalurh Donetsk 6-0 on aggregate.

Villarreal had eliminated Hammarby (Sweden) 5-1 on aggregate to get to this group stage.

The match

Not a big crowd for this first group game, just under 15,000.

Lazio were without goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi and the Filippini twins in midfield.

Villarreal were missing midfielder Marcos Senna (doping suspension) and their striker Diego Forlán who could not play in the cup games.

The Spaniards took the lead almost immediately. In the 4th minute José Mari who was not challenged, despite Lazio having numbers back, weaved his way in from the left and took a shot which beat Matteo Sereni, 0-1. A terrible start for the Biancocelesti.

Lazio could have equalised only four minutes later. Christian Manfredini had a shot parried by Pepe Reina and on the rebound Simone Inzaghi managed to miss a seemingly easy goal by sending the ball onto the post and out.

Lazio attacked for most of the half but had problems in the last third as the visitors were extremely tight, four defenders with two holding midfielders in front, César Arzo and Sebastián Battaglia and even the attacking midfielders, Santi Cazorla, Juan Román Riquelme and Roger García came back deep to give a hand. Lazio were unable to accelerate once they reached the area and systematically hit the yellow wall.

It was the visitors who were more dangerous as they found ample spaces on the break. José Mari had two shots go wide and Sereni saved well on Cazorla and Garcia.

For Lazio Goran Pandev was the biggest threat but first his strike from the edge of the box was saved and then the Macedonian was unable to get enough power with a close-range effort.

Towards the end of the half the Yellow Submarine could have doubled their lead had they not tried to walk the ball in and Sereni was reactive on a José Mari strike.

In the second half Lazio changed tactical setup and went from a 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3 with striker Tommaso Rocchi replacing midfielder Manfredini.

Lazio now looked livelier but this induced the visitors to defend even deeper.

The Biancocelesti had shots with Massimo Oddo and Inzaghi but in general still had problems creating clear cut chances.

In the 58th minute Giuliano Giannichedda replaced Ousmane Dabo and in the 67th Paolo Di Canio took Anthony Seric's place. Lazio now played with a 4-2-3-1, Inzaghi up front and Pandev, Rocchi and Di Canio in support.

In the 72nd minute the Spaniards made their first change, Hector Font for Roger Garcìa.

Three minutes later came a potential game changer as José Mari got himself sent off. The forward, who had already scored at the Olimpico when playing for Milan, reacted to being held back by Giannichedda by elbowing the midfielder from Pontecorvo. The referee had no choice but to show the Andalusian striker from Seville the red card.

The game was now attack against defence. The Liga side put on another defender Josico in the 78th minute, taking off Cazorla.

In the 85th minute Lazio's constant pressure finally paid off. Inzaghi was the assist man and Rocchi chipped the ball over Reina to level the score, 1-1.

There was still time for one last substitution, defender Armando Sa coming on for midfielder Arzo to protect the point. Final score Lazio 1 Villarreal 1.

In the end both sides were reasonably pleased. Lazio had risked collapsing in the first half but then salvaged a point near the end undeniably favoured by playing in numerical superiority. Villarreal had shown to be superior and could have come away with the three points but a draw in Rome was still not to be scoffed at especially playing the last fifteen minutes plus injury time in ten men.

In the other game Middlesbrough had beaten Egaleo 1-0 away, therefore Boro topped the group for now.

Who played for Lazio

Sereni, Oddo, Siviglia, Negro, Zauri, Manfredini (46' Rocchi), Dabo (58' Giannichedda), Liverani, Seric (67' Di Canio), Pandev, S.Inzaghi