October 20, 2020: Lazio Borussia Dortmund 3-1, Champions League

Simon Basten
Oct 20, 2025
7 min read

Absolutely fabulous

Lazio crush Borussia Dortmund in their first Champions League game since 2007

Also on this day:

October 20, 1996: Lazio Cagliari 2-1. Lazio manage to win in 10 men with Cudicini, substitute goalkeeper, heroically staying in goal despite serious injury.
October 20, 1946: Lazio Brescia 6-3. The Biancocelesti crush Brescia 6-3 in a spectacular game.

The season so far

The previous season Lazio had come fourth securing a Champions League qualification for the first time since 2007. At one point there were even scudetto hopes, but the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic and the forced stoppage took away the exceptional state of form Lazio were in so they had to settle for fourth.

This season there were high hopes to maintain the position acquired last year and to do well in CL. In the summer transfer window new players arrived: Pepe Reina (free agent), Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro (Salernitana), Gonzalo Escalante (free agent), Mohamed Fares (Spal), Andreas Pereira (on loan from Manchester United), Vedat Muriqi (Fenerbahçe) and the return of Wesley Hoedt on loan from Southampton. Leaving Lazio were Jordan Lukaku (loan to Antwerp), André Anderson (loan to Salernitana), Jony (loan to Osasuna), Bobby Adekanye (loan to Cadiz), Valon Berisha (Stade Reims), Riccardo Kishna and Ivan Vargic who had not renewed their contracts.

The summer was characterised by the possible arrival of David Silva, splendid Spanish midfielder who had not renewed his contract with Manchester City. The first contacts between the player's agent, his brother Nandez Jimenez, started on July 27. The first offer arrived on August 4: three-year contract, 10 billion euros gross, apartment in central Rome, use of private jet. Jimenez arrived in Rome on August 7 to fine tune the details and all was decided. David Silva would be playing for Lazio.

Slight problem. He had not signed the contract. Lazio sent the documentation and waited. The agent literally disappeared and Silva continued to train with Man City. Sports director Igli Tare tried to reach out to the player and his entourage but to no avail. The club decided to issue an ultimatum for August 16. Still no news. On the 17th Jimenez contacted Lazio to say that the deal was off and a few hours later Silva signed for Real Sociedad.

What happened? David Silva’s agent used Lazio to get a deal with Real Sociedad. As a consequence, with the fans fuming with anger at Tare for not having closed the deal, the club got anxious and signed Muriqi paying him way too much. But Igli needed to send a sign to calm things down. A big mistake.

In Serie A things were not going too well. After beating Cagliari in their first fixture, they had been crushed by Atalanta and Sampdoria and had managed a draw against Inter. Today was their first Champions League Group stage match since 2007.

The match: Tuesday, October 20, 2020, Lazio Borussia Dortmund 3-1

Finally, Champions League after 13 years. Unfortunately, no fans were allowed to enter due to Covid restrictions, but still it was a big moment for the club.

And what a start. In the 6th minute Thomas Meunier on the far left close to the German box passed to Jude Bellingham but Lucas Leiva intercepted. Joaquin Correa made a few steps towards the penalty box and passed to the upcoming Ciro Immobile who controlled the ball and beat Marwin Hitz.

Lazio did not stop here. In the 14th minute splendid ball for Immobile from Patric, prompt shot which Hitz managed to parry.

Big chance for Dortmund in the 21st minute. Erling Haaland to Raphaël Guerreiro who beat most of the Biancoceleste defence for speed but in front of Thomas Strakosha could only manage a weak touch which the Lazio keeper saved with his foot. Ball to Luis Alberto who passed to Correa on the counter attack, Mats Hummels fumbled giving the Argentine a freeway towards Hitz, but in front of the goalkeeper he too could not get any power on his touch and it was saved into corner. On the latter Luis Alberto crossed, Luiz Felipe headed the ball towards the goal and made it 2-0. UEFA, for unknown reasons, declared that it was a Hitz own goal. One can only imagine that they thought the ball would have gone wide and the keeper by trying to save it changed its direction.

Borussia had another chance in the 28th minute when Haaland crossed from the right and Meunier from a favourable position shot wide. In the 36th minute Luis Alberto tried to surprise the keeper from a corner but he saw it coming and palmed the ball over the crossbar.

In the 50th minute Haaland tried a shot which Strakosha managed to parry. Borussia found new energy and Lazio fell back a little. In the 66th minute splendid team move by the German team giving an opportunity to Guerreiro but his shot went too high. They did finally manage to reduce the deficit in the 71st minute. Giovanni Reyna crossed into the box and Haaland volleyed the ball in.

In the 76th minute superb ball from Luis Alberto to Immobile who raced into the box and passed centrally for Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro who made it 3-1.

Game over, great win for Lazio.

Who played for Lazio

Strakosha, Patric, Luiz Felipe (51’ Hoedt), Acerbi, Marusic, Milinkovic-Savic (67’ Akpa Akpro), Leiva, Luis Alberto (80’ Parolo), Fares, Correa (67’ Muriqi), Immobile (80’ Caicedo)

Substitutes: Alia, Reina, D.Anderson, Armini, Escalante, Czyz

Manager: Inzaghi

Who played for Borussia Dortmund

Hitz, Piszczek (65' Brandt), Hummels, Delaney, Meunier, Bellingham (46' Reyna), Witsel, Guerreiro, Reus (78' Reinier), Sancho, Haaland

Substitutes: Burki, Morey, Dahoud, Passlack, Knauff, Raschl

Manager: Favre

Referee: Turpin

Goals: 6’ Immobile, 23’ Hitz (og), 71’ Haaland, 76’ Akpa Akpro

What happened next

The season was characterised by great games, on a par with the previous season, and matches where Lazio were completely absent. So often the team would make three steps forward one week and two back the week after. And these steps back were often against “weaker teams”.

Why were there problems? There were probably four reasons.

Lazio, for the first time in many many years, were in the Champions League. This sapped some of the strength out of the team.

The second problem was that the players purchased in the summer were not doing well and the much-needed reinforcements came in areas where there was no need (€20 million for Vedat Muriqi) instead of where they were desperately needed (defence).

Simone Inzaghi was making many mistakes. He chose Mohamed Fares and the return of Wesley Hoedt in the transfer window and they were just not good enough; he kept on insisting to play Joaquin Correa who was the shadow of the previous season; kept Luis Alberto on the pitch for 90 minutes on his off days and substituted him early in the second half on his good days; had problems in reading the games and therefore often blundered substitutions. The management of Thomas Strakosha was also terrible and ruined not only the player but also his relationship with the club.

The last problem was Covid. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Lazio had lost themselves. Before Covid they were on top of their game, since, they were struggling.

In the Champions League the Biancocelesti managed to reach the knockout phase but were eliminated by Bayern Munich. In Coppa Italia they reached the quarter finals but were defeated by Atalanta.

At the end of the first half of the season they were sixth with Napoli and had four consecutive victories, including a 3-0 in the derby. The wins on the trot (including beating Atalanta in Bergamo) became six before falling to Inter. However, an unjustifiable loss at Bologna in February took them back to where they started. Another five consecutive wins allowed the Biancocelesti to fight for 4th place before being hammered 5-2 by Napoli. There was still hope after beating Milan 3-0 at home but another black out against Fiorentina and a dismal performance against Roma were the nail in the coffin as far as a Champions League qualification went. At least Lazio qualified for the Europa League.

The player with most appearances this season was Marusic with 46 games and the top scorer was obviously Immobile with 25 goals.

Let’s talk about Szymon Czyz

Szymon Czyz was born on July 8, 2001 in Gdynia in Poland. He started his football career in the youth teams of Arka Gdynia and Lech Poznan then in 2018 made the big jump to Rome as he joined the Lazio academy.

In his first year with the Primavera he did very well helping the team to promotion and continued positively also in the next two seasons, earning the bench with the first team 8 times between Serie A, Coppa Italia and Champions League. In the latter he made his professional debut playing 22 minutes on October 28 in the match drawn 1-1 at Bruges.

At the end of the season his contract was not renewed and he signed for Warta Poznan but after six months and 16 appearances he moved to Raków Częstochowa and won the Polish Cup. In September 2022 he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament tear which kept him out of play for six months. That season his club won the league title and later the Polish Super Cup.

In August 2023 he joined Górnik Zabrze on loan. He made 26 appearances with four goals before suffering another anterior cruciate ligament tear in May. In February 2025 he signed for Widzew Łódź.

Czyz has made a number of appearances for the Polish national teams – U17, U19, U20 and U21 – and was considered a player with a bright future. Lazio let him go, but he was unlucky with his injuries that so far have not allowed him to blossom.