A squandered victory

Simon Basten

Sep 1, 2022

3 min read

Updated: Sep 11

2022-23 Season

Game 4, Serie A

Wednesday, August 31, 2022

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Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa

Sampdoria Lazio 1-1

Lazio literally threw away a certain victory as Sampdoria managed to equalise in injury time.

The teams

Maurizio Sarri decided to put Luis Alberto in place of Matias Vecino in the starting eleven perhaps in the hope of winning the match in the first half. Marco Giampaolo, still in shock after his side had lost to Salernitana 4-0, placed Fabio Quagliarella in the centre of the attack instead of Francesco Caputo.

Lazio cruising

In the second minute Felipe Anderson had a problem after a clash with a Sampdoria defender but after a couple of minutes it looked as if he could carry on. And it’s Felipetto who in the 8th minute forced Emil Audero to make his first decisive save of the day. He received the ball from Danilo Cataldi just inside the penalty box on the right and shot. Audero saved and snatched the ball away from Ciro Immobile who was ready for a sliding tap in. Six minutes later Felipe Anderson shot again but Audero’s remarkable save denied the Brazilian a deserved goal.

In the 21st minute Sergej Milinkovic-Savic decided it was time to show why Claudio Lotito wanted no less than €100 million to sell him. Alessio Romagnoli sent the ball in Sampdoria’s half and the Serb with a back-heel volley put Immobile behind the Genoese defence, unmarked in front of Audero. Ball under the legs of the goalkeeper and it was 1-0.

Four minutes later it was almost 2-0. Romagnoli sent the ball behind the Samp defence again and this time it was for Mattia Zaccagni. Audero was on him and the Lazio forward tried a lob over the goalkeeper but it was not high enough and he saved. In came Immobile and shot but Sampdoria was saved by the post.

Controversy

Sampdoria woke up and in the 28th minute there was controversy. They appealed for a penalty; the referee was not interested and the VAR asked the man in yellow to check the monitor. Gianluca Aureliano had a look but was unimpressed. No penalty.

Was it a penalty? Some refs would have given it but it was interesting to have a look at the online forum of Italian referees. None of the people commentating the match said it was a penalty, on the contrary, all of them asked why the VAR ref even had called Aureliano, it should not have been an issue for the VAR at all.

With five minutes to go Quagliarella had a chance but Ivan Provedel sent the ball into a corner kick. A minute later Felipe Anderson had to go off and in comes Pedro.

Second half

Mehdi Leris was substituted by Caputo between halves as Giampaolo wanted to give his team extra guns up front. Sampdoria had yet to score in Serie A this season.

Lazio, who had played pretty well in the first half, decided it was time for PlayStation mode. In the 48th minute Milinkovic-Savic passed to Luis Alberto, back to the Serb and then forward to Immobile who instead of shooting tried to pass the ball back to the big man but the pass was intercepted. Lazio at this point started to admire themselves in the mirror to see who was more beautiful. Immobile wanted his teammates to score, his teammates wanted him to score, so the final pass always failed and Lazio wasted their chances for 2-0.

In the 62nd minute Provedel saved a good shot from Tomas Rincon. In the 70th minute in came Manolo Gabbiadini and Gonzalo Villar for Quagliarella and Ronaldo Viera. Two minutes later a triple change for Sarri: Matteo Cancellieri, Toma Basic and Marcos Antonio took the place of Zaccagni, Luis Alberto and Cataldi. In the 82nd minute Mario Gila substituted Romagnoli.

Lazio was in control but Sampdoria were getting desperate. With one minute to go Milinkovic-Savic set up a chance for Basic but Audero was miraculous. In the second minute of injury time Sampdoria equalised. Rincon got the ball and put it in a gap between Patric and Adam Marusic, Gabbiadini ran onto it, beat the Lazio defenders and put the ball into the net.

A wasted opportunity for Lazio, too busy thinking “how dare I be so beautiful” and not scoring the 2-0. Let’s hope they learned from their mistakes.

Who played for Sampdoria

Audero, Bereszynski, Murillo (73' Ferrari), Colley, Augello; Rincon; Leris (45' Caputo), Vieira (70' Villar), Verre (61' Djuricic), Sabiri, Leris; Quagliarella (70' Gabbiadini)

Substitutes: Contini, Ravaglia, Murru, Leverbe, Depaoli, Malagrida, Segovia, Yepes

Manager: Giampaolo

Who played for Lazio

Provedel, Lazzari, Patric, Romagnoli (81' Gila), Marusic, Milinkovic-Savic, Cataldi (72' Marcos Antonio), Luis Alberto (72' Basic), Felipe Anderson (41' Pedro), Immobile, Zaccagni (72' Cancellieri)