October 22, 2017: Lazio Cagliari 3-0
- Simon Basten
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
One, two, three
Three goals in the first 50 minutes demolish Cagliari
Also on this day:
The season so far
The previous season Lazio had arrived fifth and qualified for the Europa League. They had also reached the final of the Coppa Italia but lost to Juve.
The summer transfer window had seen the arrivals of Adam Marusic, Felipe Caicedo, Liverpool legend Lucas Leiva and Manchester United legend Nani. Goodbye Wesley Hoedt, Lucas Biglia and Keita Balde.
The season kicked off to a good start. Lazio managed to beat Juventus 3-2 in the Italian Super Cup with a goal in the dying seconds from youngster Alessandro Murgia. Doubles from Ciro Immobile and Paolo Dybala had made the game 2-2.
The Biancocelesti were doing well so far. They were third in the company of Juventus on 19 points, three behind Inter and five from Napoli. They had beaten Milan 4-1 at home, Juventus 2-1 away and lost just one match.
The match: Sunday, October 22, 2017, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
After an early chance with a Luis Alberto header off an Adam Marusic cross having gone too high, Lazio scored in the 7th minute. Ciro Immobile latched onto a superb through ball from Sergej Milinković-Savić, anticipated Luca Crosta who brought him down. Penalty which King Ciro safely put away. It was the Italian striker’s 12th Serie A goal of the season.
Cagliari then took control and forced Lazio into making many mistakes, but did not capitalise their dominion. They did equalise but it was disallowed due to offside. After thirty minutes of difficulty, Immobile had two chances for his brace but missed both times. When the third arrived, he could not fail again. Senad Lulic crossed from the left in the 42nd minute, Marusic on the far right headed the ball to the middle and Ciro made it 13 for the 2-0.
Towards the end of the first half Joao Pedro shaved the post on a free kick but at the beginning of the second, Lazio closed the game. Free kick on the left. Luis Alberto crossed a perfect ball and Bastos tapped it in.
Game over. The Biancocelesti took their minds off the game, Cagliari did try to re-open it, hit a crossbar with Diego Farias and had a few other chances, but the match had ended much earlier.
Who played for Lazio
Strakosha, Bastos, de Vrij, Radu (70’ Luiz Felipe), Marusic (78’ Caicedo), Parolo, Leiva (56’ Murgia), Milinkovic-Savic, Lulic, Luis Alberto, Immobile
Manager: Inzaghi
Who played for Cagliari
Crosta, Andreolli, Romagna, Pisacane, Dessena (64' Faragò), Ionita, Barella, Joao Pedro, Padoin (76' Miangue), Farias, Sau (58' Pavoletti)
Substitutes: Rafael, Daga, Cabras, Capuano, Cigarini, Ceppitelli, Giannetti
Manager: Lopez
Referee: Pairetto
Goals: 7’ Immobile (pen), 42’ Immobile, 49’ Bastos
What happened next
At the end of the first half of the season Lazio were 4th. They stayed fourth for a while and even reached 3rd at the end of February, but it lasted just one game as they lost at home against Juventus in injury time. In mid-March they slipped to fifth but again moved up to third in early April and stayed there until three games to the end of the season. The first four qualified for the Champions League. They were tied with Roma and had a four-point lead over Inter.
But with Immobile injured they drew the first game at home and Inter reduced the deficit to two points. In the penultimate game Lazio had to win against struggling Crotone but only managed to draw. So did Inter, and the final game at the Olimpico against the Nerazzurri was decisive.
With 12 minutes to go Lazio were winning 2-1, but Inter managed to score two goals in 4 minutes and Lazio had to settle for Europa League. A big blow.
In Coppa Italia the Biancocelesti were eliminated by Milan in the semi-finals on penalties and in Europa League they had reached the quarter finals but had been eliminated by Red Bull Salzburg 6-5 on aggregate.
Let’s talk about Bastos
Bartolomeu Jacinto Quissanga, better known as Bastos, was born in Luanda on November 23, 1991. He started playing football with Petro Atletico in his home town club and won a Taca de Angola (the national cup) in 2012 and a Supertaca de Angola (Supercoppa) a year after.
Standing out for his abilities, strength and speed, in 2013 he signed with Rostov in the Russian League. He stayed in Russia until 2016 and had a key role in Rostov’s first Russian Cup win in 2014.
Lazio signed him in 2016. He was not used all of the time, as Lazio rotated their defenders a lot during the season. He also had a few injury problems. In some games he was superb but he had the bad habit of having moments when his concentration was not 100%. He stayed with Lazio until the beginning of the 2020-21 season. Simone Inzaghi preferred the return of Wesley Hoedt to keeping Bastos for another year. Not the brightest decision by Lazio’s former manager.
Bastos therefore signed for Al-Ain Saudi in 2020 but a year later he went back to Rostov on loan. When Russia invaded Ukraine, FIFA announced that all foreign players in Russia could suspend their contracts with their clubs until June 30, 2022 and sign with a club outside Russia. Bastos had reached an agreement with Arminia Bielefeld, but the German Football Association stopped all players coming from Russia and Ukraine playing in Germany. As a consequence, in September 2020 Bastos signed for Al-Ahli Saudi. At the end of his contract in 2023, Bastos signed for Botafogo. In 2024 he won the Brazilian league.
Bastos played 94 games for Lazio (68 in Serie A, 10 in Coppa Italia, 2 in Champions League and 14 in Europa League) and scored 9 goals (6 in Serie A, one in Coppa Italia and 2 in Europa League).
Bastos also has 59 caps with Angola and scored two goals. He participated in the 2013 and 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
Lazio Career
Season | Total appearances (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Europa League |
2016-17 | 14 | 11 | 3 | - |
2017-18 | 28 (5) | 21 (4) | 1 | 6 (1) |
2018-19 | 28 (1) | 18 (1) | 5 | 5 |
2019-20 | 22 (3) | 16 (1) | 1 (1) | 5 (1) |
Aug-Oct 2020 | 2 | 2 | - | - |
Total | 94 (9) | 68 (6) | 10 (1) | 16 (2) |
Sources
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