Two Goals in the Silence

Simon Basten

Sep 28, 2023

4 min read

Season 2017-18

Group Stage, Game 2, Europa League

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Lazio Zulte Waregem 2-0

Caicedo opens his Lazio account before Strakosha and Immobile rescue a comfortable evening from an unexpectedly nervous finish against Zulte Waregem

Today was the second match of Lazio's European League campaign. In the first they had won away 3-2 with Vitesse.

The match: Thursday, September 28, 2017, Stadio Olimpico, Rome

There was something deeply unnatural about the Olimpico on the evening of 28 September 2017.

The lights were on, the pitch was immaculate and Lazio were playing European football, but the stadium was silent. No Curva Nord roaring the team forward, no whistles after a misplaced pass, no eruption when a goal arrived. UEFA's punishment for the racist chanting during the previous season meant that Lazio's second Europa League group match was played behind closed doors.

It was an eerie setting for a Lazio side enjoying one of the best starts to a season in years.

Zulte Waregem had arrived in Rome having already been beaten 5–1 at home by Nice, and on paper the Belgians appeared unlikely to provide much resistance. Yet the empty stadium and Lazio's heavily rotated side produced a strange evening in which the Biancocelesti dominated for long periods but somehow managed to make a comfortable victory unnecessarily complicated.

Simone Inzaghi made several changes to his side. Ciro Immobile, Sergej Milinković-Savić and Senad Lulić began on the bench, while Felipe Caicedo was handed another opportunity to establish himself as the team's European striker. With injuries already stretching the squad, this was less a second-string Lazio than a side forced to demonstrate its growing depth.

And for the first hour, that depth looked more than sufficient.

Lazio immediately took control. The Belgians were pushed deep into their own half and struggled to cope with the movement of Luis Alberto and the energy of the wing-backs.

The breakthrough arrived after 18 minutes.

Jordan Lukaku collected the ball on the left and sent a long cross towards the far post. Adam Marušić rose above his marker and headed the ball back across the area. Caicedo had already anticipated what was coming. The Ecuadorian threw himself at the ball and directed a diving header beyond Nicola Leali.

1–0 Lazio.

It was Caicedo's first goal in a Lazio shirt.

The celebration was almost surreal. The striker had finally broken his duck, yet there was no roar from the stands to accompany the moment. Only the players themselves could celebrate the goal, their voices echoing around an Olimpico that should have been shaking beneath them.

The goal should have been the beginning of a comfortable evening.

Instead, Lazio repeatedly missed the chance to finish the job.

Alessandro Murgia went close, Marco Parolo forced a good save from Leali and Luis Alberto came close with a dangerous effort. Caicedo himself had opportunities to add a second, but the more chances Lazio wasted, the more the match remained alive.

Zulte offered almost nothing for much of the first half, although Leya Iseka came close before the interval after a Lazio mistake.

There was a feeling that Lazio were playing within themselves.

They were simply too good for their opponents, but perhaps because of that superiority they never felt the need to reach top gear.

That changed after the break.

Zulte's double substitution gave them greater ambition and suddenly Lazio began to lose control. The Belgian side pushed higher, found more space and started to test a defence which had looked almost entirely untroubled during the opening hour.

Inzaghi responded by introducing his big guns.

Immobile and Milinković-Savić came on in the 54th minute, but rather than putting the game to bed immediately, Lazio continued to waste opportunities. Luis Alberto was forced off after suffering a knock, while Caicedo missed another chance that would have ended the contest.

The longer the score remained 1–0, the more uncomfortable the evening became.

Then came the moment when Lazio needed their goalkeeper.

With 20 minutes remaining, Leya Iseka finally produced Zulte's first serious shot on target. Thomas Strakosha was equal to it, making an important save to preserve Lazio's lead.

A few minutes later the Albanian goalkeeper was called upon again, this time to deny Peter Olayinka with a close-range header.

The visitors had suddenly discovered belief.

Lazio, meanwhile, were tiring. The easy rhythm of the first hour had disappeared and the Biancocelesti were increasingly concerned with surviving rather than attacking.

It was becoming one of those European nights when a match that should have been won comfortably can suddenly turn into a disaster.

Then, in the 90th minute, came the release.

Murgia won possession and launched a counter-attack. With two forwards available, he chose Immobile on the left.

Ciro took the ball in his stride.

One touch to set himself up.

Then the finish.

He calmly placed the ball into the far corner beyond Leali.

2–0.

The goal was Immobile's 12th of the season for Lazio and his 13th overall for club and country. It was also his first attempt of the match.

This time, the silence almost made the goal more dramatic.

There was no wall of sound from the Curva, no thousands of voices celebrating Lazio's victory. Instead, the players gathered around Immobile in an empty stadium, while the significance of the goal echoed through the deserted Olimpico.

The final whistle followed shortly afterwards.

Lazio had won 2–0 and remained on maximum points in Group K, alongside Nice. It was their seventh victory in nine competitive matches from the beginning of the season.

Even when they were not at their best, even with numerous players rested or unavailable, Lazio kept winning, sitting proudly at the top of their European group.

Who played for Lazio

Strakosha, Patric, Luiz Felipe, Radu, Marusic, Parolo, Di Gennaro (54' Immobile), Murgia, Lukaku (79' Lulic), Luis Alberto (54' Milinkovic-Savic), Caicedo