Could have been three points

Simon Basten

Aug 21, 2022

3 min read

Updated: Sep 13

2022-23 Season

Game 2, Serie A

Saturday, August 20, 2022

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Turin, Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino

Torino Lazio 0-0

A goalless draw between Torino and Lazio, but the Biancocelesti did have their chances.

The teams

Maurizio Sarri decided for a more physical team and chose Matias Vecino. The rest of the line-up was the same as when they were down to ten men in the previous game. For Torino, in came Alessandro Buongiorno and former West Ham player Nikola Vlasic. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic’s brother, Vaina, was confirmed as goalkeeper.

Boring first half

With one single exception the first half was pretty boring. Torino tried to attack but was not dangerous, Lazio did try to gain control of the game but there were a lot of mistakes and not much quality. Torino were very physical and Lazio seemed hesitant to go forward as they were too afraid of leaving dangerous gaps for the Piedmontese to attack.

With one exception, as previously mentioned. In the 24th minute, great pass from Mattia Zaccagni for Adam Marusic who, in front of Milinkovic-Savic, tried to put the ball under the goalkeeper's legs but only gets a corner.

That was it.

Better second half

Lazio were much better in the second half. Sarri at the end of the game did say that his plan had been to wait for Torino to tire before trying anything more risky, and as he had predicted Torino started losing possession.

In the 55th minute Ciro Immobile was finally able to get past Buongiorno but his shot was saved into corner by Vaina Milinkovic-Savic. Six minutes later on came Toma Basic and Marcos Antonio (first match for Lazio) to replace Danilo Cataldi and Vecino. Lazio’s ball possession and quality of play improved and in the 63rd minute Immobile again managed to beat Buongiorno but his shot at goal was miraculously deflected into a corner by Koffi Djidji. Two minutes later Sergej Milinkovic-Savic had a chance but this time it was Samuele Ricci who deflected the ball for another corner.

Nothing much happened for the rest of the game. Lazio did try to get the better of Torino’s three defenders but to no avail. Torino themselves tired and the lack of fuel did not allow them to do any more.

Last second controversy

A little controversy in the dying seconds of the match. With five seconds to go, the referee, Marco Piccinini, allowed Torino a throw-in near the Lazio penalty box. Since it was the end of the game, most of Torino were in Lazio’s area. The throw was cleared by the Lazio defence. At this point the ref should have ended the game, instead he waited to see what would happen. Lazio started a 3 against 1 counter attack and only at that point did he blow his final whistle. The Biancocelesti were not happy and Immobile and Milinkovic-Savic were booked.

A word on the ref

Piccinini should have booked a few Torino players during the course of the match, especially Wilfried Singo and Ricardo Rodriguez, but was lenient with the players of the owner of the Gazzetta dello Sport’s team. He certainly was not lenient with the Lazio players and booked five of them.

Who played for Torino

V. Milinkovic-Savic, Djidji, Buongiorno, Rodriguez, Singo (72' Lazaro), Ricci, Linetty (72' Lukic), Aina, Vlasic, Radonjic (83' Seck), Sanabria (72' Pellegri)

Substitutes: Berisha, Gemello, Bayeye, Schuurs, Segre, Ilkhan, Adopo, Vojvoda, Garbett

Manager: Juric

Who played for Lazio

Provedel, Lazzari, Patric, Romagnoli, Marusic, S. Milinkovic- Savic (83' Luis Alberto), Cataldi (62' Marcos Antonio), Vecino (62' Basic), Felipe Anderson (71' Pedro), Immobile, Zaccagni (83' Cancellieri)