Reina reigns supreme

Dag Jenkins
Sep 22, 2023
4 min read

Season 2021-22

Game 5, Serie A

Thursday, September 23, 2021

Stadio Grande Torino, Turin

Torino-Lazio 1-1

A great performance by Lazio keeper and an injury time penalty gift Lazio a point

In Serie A so far Lazio had played 4 league games. The Biancocelesti had won the first two (Empoli 3-1 away and Spezia 6-1 at home) but then lost 0-2 away to Milan and drew 2-2 at home to Cagliari. Lazio were currently 8th on 7 points.

Torino had 6 points and were 10th. They had lost the first two (Atalanta 1-2 at home and Fiorentina 1-2 away) but then won the following two (Salernitana 4-0 at home and Sassuolo 1-0 away).

A game of uncertain outcome this evening between a home side seemingly improving and a visiting side fading after a promising start.

An interesting fact was that two Milinkovic-Savic brothers faced each other today; Vanja in goal for Torino and Sergej on the bench for Lazio.

The match

A Thursday evening 6.30 kick-off only attracted about 12,000 to the Grande Torino.

Torino had absences in midfielder Dennis Praet and forward Andrea Belotti while Lazio were without forward Mattia Zaccagni.

The first shot towards goal was by Antonio Sanabria after a defensive hesitation but his low cross goal effort was just wide of the far post.

In the 24th minute the Paraguayan then went even closer when his header was touched onto the crossbar by Pepe Reina after a good Ola Aina assist.

Lazio were poor in the first half and were never dangerous. Halftime 0-0 but Toro on top.

Maurizio Sarri made two changes during the break; Sergej Milinkovic-Savic came on for Luis Alberto and Pedro replaced young Raul Moro.

Juric on the other hand was satisfied and fielded the same XI.

Early in the second half there were finally some signs of life from Lazio. Ciro Immobile sent Felipe Anderson flying down the right where he put in a low ball across the goal mouth but Pedro diving in was slightly late.

Both sides made changes just after the hour mark. In the 62nd minute Torino brought on Cristian Ansaldi for Aina and Saša Lukić for Rolando Mandragora while Lazio replaced Adam Marusic with Manuel Lazzari.

Reina was then protagonist again when he brilliantly dived to his left and managed to get his left hand to deflect a powerful Ansaldi strike heading for the far post.

Torino continued to dominate and Sarri made another substitution in the 70th minute bringing on Lucas Leiva for Danilo Cataldi.

In the 73rd minute Juric responded by throwing on talented Croat Marko Pjaca for Josip Brekalo and Tomás Rincon for Karol Linetty.

The hosts' pressure and Juric's decision paid off in the 76th minute when they deservedly took the lead. Wilfred Singo went down the right and crossed into the middle where Pjaca got the better of Lazzari and headed into the left hand corner, 1-0.

After a few minutes of contemplation Sarri went for an all out attack and gave Vedat Muriqi a ten-minute chance in place of Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro. Lazio were now playing with four forwards.

It was nevertheless Torino and Pjaca who almost scored again. Reina was again superb as he sprung to his left and parried a medium height, crisp shot by the former Juventus player, teed up by Lukic.

Lazio then attacked desperately in the last minutes winning a few corners and just before the 90th minute were finally dangerous but Immobile's header hit the crossbar.

It seemed all over but in the first minute out of the four of added time Reina hoofed a hopeful long ball forward which Milinkovic-Savic' header prolonged into the left side of the Toro box, Muriqi got there first and was naively tripped up by Koffi Djidji. The Kosovar forward looked to have touched the ball horizontally rather than towards the goal but the Ivorian defender's foul was clear and the referee was forced to point to the penalty spot. Immobile, a former Torino player himself, tucked the spotkick low to Vanja Milinkovic-Savic' right and equalised for Lazio, 1-1.

A decent point for Lazio especially as they had played so badly. Sarri's style of play notoriously takes time to assimilate but next up was the derby...

Torino felt hard done by and their fans applauded them as if they had won the match. They had deserved to but had met a 39-year-old keeper still at the top of his game plus an unnecessary penalty given away in the dying seconds.

Lazio were now 7th on 8 points (with Bologna) while Torino were 10th on 7 points (with Udinese).

Who played for Torino

V.Milinkovic-Savic, Djidji, Bremer, Rodriguez, Singo, Pobega, Mandragora (62' Lukic), Aina (62' Ansaldi), Linetty (73' Rincon), Brekalo (73' Pjaca), Sanabria

Substitutes: Berisha, Gemello, Buongiorno, Vojvoda, Zima, Baselli, Warming, Verdi

Manager: Juric

Who played for Lazio

Reina, Marusic (62' Lazzari), Luiz Felipe, Acerbi, Hysaj, Akpa Akpro (79' Muriqi), Cataldi (70' Leiva), Luis Alberto (46' S.Milinkovic-Savic), Raul Moro (46' Pedro), Immobile, F.Anderson