After Lazio defeated Salzburg at home in the Europa League; they travel away to face Udinese in one of the most important Serie A games of this season. With Roma losing 2-0 to Fiorentina at the Olimpico and Inter losing 1-0 to Torino this made it a perfect opportunity for Lazio to claim third as the battle for a Champions League spot continues. What was anticipated to be a tough fixture, was, and the game finished Udinese 1-2 Lazio.
The first half started off horribly for Lazio as they struggled to get the ball out of their defensive third and looked very shaky in the back. They paid the price as Kevin Lasagna’s header found its way in the back of the net. After that goal, Lazio seemed to regain control of the game and answered back as a nice play found Immobile in the box who netted in his 27th goal of the season. The goal was close to being checked again using VAR as the official did wave off a foul that was supposed to go in Udinese’s favor that happened earlier, before Lazio counter-attacked off it. Just 11 minutes after Immobile’s equaliser, Lazio found the back of the net again. Immobile received the ball and did well to hold and shield it, as he then gave a through ball to Luis Alberto who found the back of the net and gave Lazio the 2-1 lead.
The second half didn’t have as much as action as the first half between the two sides. Many opportunities for both Udinese and Lazio were off target. Inzaghi did sub off Lulic at the beginning of the second half for Patric. Inzaghi’s men did seem to play defensively throughout most of the second half and tried to catch Udinese on the counter attack. Inzaghi eventually subbed off Luis Alberto and Ciro Immobile to rest them for Thursday’s second leg clash against Salzburg. The two goal scorers were replaced by Alessandro Murgia and Felipe Caicedo.
Even after a shaky start, the Biancoceleste pulled through and after 90 minutes, the result was Udinese 1-2 Lazio. This victory now sees Lazio in 3rd place bumping down Inter to 5th by 1 point and bumping down Roma to 4th through goal differential. The Biancoceleste’s victory completes a perfect end to a perfect week that all Lazio fans will be happy about.
