Rocchi reaches 98 and 99 giving Lazio Europa League campaign

Dag Jenkins
Aug 25, 2023
3 min read

Season 2011-12

Second Leg, Playoff, Europa League

Thursday, August 25, 2011

National Arena Filip II, Skopje

Rabotnicki - Lazio 1-3

Rocchi's 98th and 99th goals for Lazio give Lazio 9-1 aggregate win

The Serie A was supposed to start on August 28 but had been delayed until September 9 because of collective contractual television issues. Lazio had been scheduled to play Chievo at home but would now play Milan away on the 9th (and Chievo on December 21). In Coppa Italia Lazio would not play until January.

Their Europa League campaign had started on August 18 with the playoff against today's opponents Rabotnički from Skopje in Macedonia. Lazio won 6-0 so this game today should be a mere formality.

FK Rabotnički had finished 4th the previous season. The top scorer was Borche Manevski with 19 league goals. This season the manager was Goran Petreski.

The "Railers" or "Romantics" founded in 1937 had so far won 3 Macedonian First league titles (2005, 2006 and 2008) and 2 domestic cups (2008 and 2009). In the past they had won the Macedonian Republic Football League six times (1953, 1966, 1968, 1973, 1977 and 1980) and the Macedonian Republic Cup six times (1954, 1957, 1974, 1978, 1983 and 1988).

After the crushing victory at home this trip to Macedonia was as much to visit the Macedonian capital as to play football.

The match

A hot evening in the Macedonian capital brought about 5,000 spectators to the 33,000 capacity national stadium.

Lazio chose to leave Miro Klose and Djibril Cissé in Rome while Stefan Radu, Abdoulay Konko, Álvaro González and Cristian Brocchi were out injured. Lazio rotated their main regulars, so Federico Marchetti, Giuseppe Biava, Hernanes and Cristian Ledesma started on the bench. Lorik Cana played in midfield.

Lazio started off looking distracted. A lot of defensive imprecision and a hesitant Albano Bizzarri meant the Macedonians bossed the first ten minutes or so.

In the 9th minute Bizzarri saved a Borce Manevski effort.

Lazio gradually emerged from their slumber and in the 16th minute Tommaso Rocchi hit the post.

In the 21st minute Bizzarri gave Lazio a scare by attempting to dribble inside his own area and was lucky to get away unpunished.

A minute later, the Venetian forward Rocchi put Lazio in front with a powerful finish from a Stefano Mauri assist, 0-1.

In the 36th minute Edy Reja had to make an unplanned substitution as André Dias suffered a knock on the head and was replaced by Biava.

In the 38th minute the hosts surprisingly equalised courtesy of a Bizzarri howler on a seemingly innocuous Dimitrija Lazarevski free kick, 1-1. A long range freekick which bounced in front of the Argentine keeper and went in.

There were no changes at halftime.

In the 48th minute Bizzarri partially redeemed himself by diving low and saving a long distance shot by Goce Todrovski.

Reja was not satisfied with Lazio's apathy and in the 56th minute put Hernanes on for Mauri.

In the 61st and 63rd the locals too resorted to their bench, bringing on Mario Nastevski and Kiril Trajkovski for Muarem Muarem and Manevski.

In the 66th minute Hernanes shaved the post with a good cross goal effort.

In the 68th minute Bizzarri was safe on a Trajkovski strike.

This was the Railers last threat as they started to tire and Lazio took control of the midfield helped by the introduction of Ledesma for Libor Kozak.

In the 73rd minute Lazio took the lead. Hernanes struck from outside the box, 1-2.

In the 77th minute Lazio made it three. Rocchi linked up with a perfect Senad Lulic cross to score his 99th goal in a Lazio shirt, 1-3.

The game was won and the only thing to happen before the end was the Romantics changing their keeper in the dying minutes of the game.

Mission accomplished for Lazio. The qualification had never been in doubt after the first leg result but winning helps to win. It was not a vintage performance by Lazio and the defence had shown a few cracks but a lack of concentration and motivation could hopefully justify some of the mistakes.

The main thing was that the Biancocelesti were officially through to the Europa League group stage which would start on September 15.

Who played for Rabotnički

Dimitrievski (89' Sislovski), Todorovski, Kumbev, Bogdanovic, Lazarevski, Muarem (61' Nastevski), Velkoski, Vujcic, Micevski, Petkovski, Manevski (63' Trajkovski)

Substitutes: Najdoski, Gligorov, Avramovski, Skenderovic

Manager: Petreski

Who played for Lazio

Bizzarri, Scaloni, Dias (36' Biava), Diakite, Zauri, Lulic, Matuzalem, Cana, Mauri (56' Hernanes), Rocchi, Kozak (70' Ledesma)