Lazio dominant under Mount Vitosha

Dag Jenkins

Oct 1, 2023

4 min read

Season 2009-10

Game 2, Group Stage, Europa League

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Georgi Asparuhov Stadion, Sofia

Levski Sofia-Lazio 0-4

Despite some defensive scares Lazio outclass Bulgarians with four unanswered goals

For now Lazio's season had started in a dreamlike fashion. On August 8 in Beijing, the Biancocelesti had defeated José Mourinho's soon to be "Triplete" winning Inter 2-1 to lift the Italian Supercoppa for the third time. Goals by Francelino Matuzalém and Tommaso Rocchi sank the seemingly invincible Nerazzurri.

Lazio started Serie A on August 23 and had won the first 2 (Atalanta 1-0 at home and Chievo 2-1 away) but then lost 2 (Juventus and Parma both at home) and drew 2 (Catania away and Palermo at home). Lazio were currently joint 8th on 8 points (with Roma, Chievo and Milan).

In the Europa League the Biancocelesti had eliminated Swedish club Elfsborg 3-1 on aggregate to qualify for this group stage. They had then started badly losing 1-2 at home to Salzburg. Today was the second game while the other team in Group G was Villarreal.

Levski Sofia were Bulgarian Champions. They had won their 26th league title under Emil Velev. The top scorer was Georgi Aleksandrov Ivanov with 12 while Georgi Hristov got 10.

In their history they had also won 26 domestic cups and 3 Super Cups. In 2006-07 they made history by being the first Bulgarian side to play in the Champions League group stages. They had also reached the quarterfinals of the Cup Winners Cup three times and the UEFA Cup twice.

This season the manager was Serbian Ratko Dostanić. The Blues had been eliminated in the Champions League playoff by Hungarians Debrecen 1-4 on aggregate. To get there the Bulgarians had previously eliminated Sant Julia 9-0 (Andorra) and Baku 2-0 (Azerbaijan) but now had to play in the Europa league. Their top scorer from the previous season, Georgi Ivanov, had retired at 33 but was now assistant manager.

In the first game of this Europa League group they had lost 0-1 away to Villarreal.

A crucial game for both sides today if they wanted to have an Europa League cup run.

The match

A 7 pm Thursday evening kick-off brought about 15,000 fans to the stadium built in 1960. In 1991 it was named after a former player, Georgi Asparuhov, who had died in a car crash in 1971.

Lazio were missing defenders Aleksandar Kolarov, Sebastiano Siviglia, Guglielmo Stendardo and Modibo Diakité, midfielder Cristian Brocchi and forward Julio Cruz. Midfielder Cristian Ledesma and forward Goran Pandev were recently excluded from the squad over contractual disagreements.

Lazio started with confidence, possibly too much. They kept possession and looked in control but occasionally lost concentration and allowed Joãozinho to cause them some problems on the left.

In the 6th minute Tommaso Rocchi tested the keeper and in the 10th Bizzarri was safe on a Joaozinho free kick.

In the 12th minute Francelino Matuzalem was sloppy and lost possession but the hosts counter foot ended with a shot that went wide.

Lazio realised they had to be more cynical and in the 22nd minute they took the lead. Mauro Zarate broke free and while Rocchi took away a couple of defenders the Argentine teed up Matuzalem on the right and the Brazilian scored with a low cross goal strike, 0-1.

The Bulgarians pushed forward, with Joãozinho still the most active. Lazio however looked as if they could turn up the level when they decided to.

Zarate had a shot parried away for a corner with the help of the post and a Matuzalem effort went just over the bar.

That moment came just before halftime when Rocchi set up Zarate whose low finish did not appear irresistible but found its way past Tsevetan Dimitrov anyway, 0-2 at the break.

For the second half the Blues had two novelties; defender Jordan Miliev for Elin Topuzakov and midfielder Boyan Tabakov for Darko Tasevski.

After the interval, the Sofians piled forward. Lazio should have seen it coming but were nevertheless caught out a few times. First Hristov had only the keeper to beat but was denied by an excellent Albano Bizzarri save and then Cédric Bardon incredibly missed from close range after a good one-two with Tabakov.

Ballardini sensed danger and in the 54th minute put on Ousmane Dabo in place of Roberto Baronio. Eight minutes later he also took off Zarate and introduced fresh-legged Pasquale Foggia.

The Neapolitan elf took five minutes to become a protagonist as in the 67th minute he produced a clever assist for Mourad Meghni who let loose an unstoppable long range shot, 0-3.

Foggia then tried a spectacular lob from midfield but Dimitrov was alert and tipped it over for a corner.

In the 72nd minute the Bulgarians tried changing forwards, bringing on Hristo Yoyok and taking off Hristov.

A minute later however they were punished again. Rocchi's marker Youssef Rabeh slipped allowing the Venetian striker to go round the keeper and score in the empty goal, 0-4.

The game was virtually over. Lazio took off Matuzalem and replaced him with Stefano Mauri.

Lazio now sat back and Bizzarri had to make two more saves to deny the hosts a consolation goal which they would have deserved. Final score, 0-4.

A good attacking performance but with some worrying lapses defensively. Fortunately Bizzarri was on form and Lazio's quality was too much for the home side in the end.

A good win for Lazio who were back on track in Group G. The table read; Salzburg 6, Villarreal 3, Lazio 3, Levski Sofia 0.

Who played for Levski Sofia

Dimitrov, Topuzakov (46' Miliev), Benzoukane, Rabeh, Minev, Sarmov, Tasevski (46' Tabakov), Bardon, Ze Soares, Joaozinho, Hristov (72' Yovov)

Substitutes: Vasilev, Dimitrov, Lucio Wagner, Baltanov

Manager: Dostanić

Who played for Lazio

Bizzarri, Radu, Lichtsteiner, Cribari, Perpetuini, Meghni, Baronio (54' Dabo), Eliseu, Matuzalem (74' Mauri), Zarate (62' Foggia), Rocchi