September 26, 2020: Cagliari Lazio 0-2

Simon Basten
Sep 26, 2025
7 min read

Updated: Oct 2, 2025

Good start

Lazio easily beat Cagliari thanks to Lazzari and Immobile

Player of the day: Djavan Anderson

Also on this day:

September 26, 1971: Lazio Brescia 1-0. Thanks to a great game from Nanni and a Chinaglia goal, Lazio start the season with a win.
September 26, 1999: Parma Lazio 1-2. The Biancocelesti win at Parma thanks to an incredible goal from Almeyda.

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. Sporting 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 do something to calm things down. A big mistake.

Today was the first Serie A fixture for Lazio. They should have played their first match against Atalanta on September 20 but due to the fact that all the teams that had played in the European competitions had finished the season much later than the others, the Italian Federation had granted them an extra week before starting the new season.

The match: Saturday, September 26, 2020, Sardegna Arena, Cagliari

Four minutes and Lazio were already ahead. Joaquin Correa to Adam Marusic on the left, he dribbled past Paolo Faragò and from the by-line crossed into the middle where Manuel Lazzzari was ready for the tap-in and the Biancocelesti’s first goal of the season.

Lazio pushed for a second and in the 13th minute went close with Sergej Milinkovic-Savic who on a Luis Alberto corner headed the ball towards the goal but Marko Rog saved very close to the line.

Cagliari started to be more dangerous and in the 25th minute Thomas Strakosha was forced to save a Rog shot when Lazio failed to clear the area properly. But eight minutes later Lazio should have closed the game. Long ball from Marusic to Milinkovic-Savic who avoided Charalampos Lykogiannis but Alessio Cragno managed to stop both the big Serb and Lazzari, ball again to Sergej who crossed for the upcoming Correa who tried a header which hit the woodwork and then Ciro Immobile was unable to convert the simple tap in. Immobile had another chance in the 42nd minute but again Cragno parried.

Three minutes into the second half and Cagliari should have equalised. Joao Pedro from outside the box tried a shot which Strakosha parried, Giovanni Simeone completely alone in front of the keeper managed to kick the ball out. In the 65th minute Milinkovic-Savic tried a curling shot from outside the box but Cragno saved into corner. Two minutes later again Cagliari dangerous with Sebastian Walukiewicz who on a Lykogiannis free kick was unable to convert a sitter.

In the 74th minute the Biancocelesti closed the game. Marusic went off on the left, ball to Immobile in the box and 2-0 for Lazio.

That was it. Good start for the Biancocelesti.

Who played for Cagliari

Cragno, Faragò (80' Zappa), Klavan, Waluikiewicz, Lykogiannis (87' Tripaldelli), Nandez, Marin (70' Caligara), Rog, Sottil (80' Despodov), Simeone (80' Pavoletti), Joao Pedro

Substitutes: Aresti, Vicario, Godin, Pinna, Carboni, Pajac, Pisacane, Oliva, Ladinetti

Manager: Di Francesco

Who played for Lazio

Strakosha, Patric, Acerbi, Radu (89’ Parolo), Lazzari, Milinkovic-Savic (70’ Akpa Akpro), Leiva (63’ Escalante), Luis Alberto (89’ Cataldi), Marusic, Correa (70’ Caicedo), Immobile

Substitutes: Reina, Alia, Armini, D.Anderson, Kiyine, Adekanye

Manager: Inzaghi

Referee: Massa

Goals: 4’ Lazzari, 74’ Immobile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uujB8dpxL6U

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 insisting on playing Joaquin Correa who was the shadow of the previous season's player; 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 Djavan Anderson

Djavan Anderson was born in Amsterdam on April 21 1996. He began his footballing career with AFC before joining the Ajax youth academy. In 2013-14 he began playing for the U19s and made his professional debut for the reserves team Jong Ajax. He played 8 games that season.

In the summer of 2014 he signed with AZ. He stayed just a year making only one league appearance. The following season he moved to SC Cambur where he played nine games. The club was relegated to the second tier and he stayed, making 19 appearances with 1 goal. This attracted the attention of Italian clubs and in 2017 he signed for Bari in Serie B. He made 19 appearances with two goals. He was elected one of the four best Serie B defenders. But the club went bust and he was out of a contract. Lazio signed him probably with the idea of moving him to Salernitana and that is exactly what happened. He made 19 appearances with one goal. He returned to Lazio and made his Lazio debut in Coppa Italia against Cremonese. For most of that season he played with the U19s as and over-age player, but when Covid broke out he pushed his way into the main squad. With the increased number of substitutions and due to some players being out of form, he manged to make six appearances that season not doing too badly. He played just three times in the following season.

In order to play a little more he was first loaned to Cosenza in the summer of 2021 (8 appearances) and to Pec Zwolle (14 games) in January 2022. In the summer he was sold to Oxford United in the English third tier where he made 30 appearances. In 2025 he signed for Lecco in Serie C.

At international level he was part of the Netherlands team that won the Under 17 European Championship in 2012. Since 2022 he has been representing Suriname.

Anderson is a good all-rounder, capable of playing right back or on the right wing in case of a five man midfield. In his career he has also played as central midfielder and even central defender. He came to Lazio with a good curriculum but probably with the sole purpose of moving him definitely to Salerno. That did not happen, but he did give a good contribution in the final stages of the 2019-20 season.