After an action-packed two days of the Champions League, the Europa League kicked off today, (Thursday, September 20th) at 1:00 pm (EST); a competition that sees two Italian sides in Lazio and AC Milan.
The Laziali kicked off their European campaign against the underdog club in their group (Cypriot club Apollon Limassol) in what turned out to be an eventual 2-1 victory for the biancocelesti:
- Simone Inzaghi’s side took just 14 minutes to take the lead off a lovely give-and-go between Luis Alberto and Felipe Caicedo (the man of the match in our eyes).
- Following this, there was some high pressing from Apollon that Lazio had to defend before Felipe Caicedo was brought down inside the box late in the second half. Italian striker Ciro Immobile stepped up and doubled the lead to secure the victory (84′).
- Finally, in final three minutes (87′), Emilio Zelaya scored a goal for the away side that shortened the lead, but in the end was not enough to defeat the Eagles.
At the end of the match, to the microphones of Sky Sports, Inzaghi analyzed the challenge and talked about the match won by his team: “It was a good first half, there is the regret for not having scored the second goal much earlier that would have given us more serenity throughout the match. The Cypriots grew from our demerit, their goal was the result of our missed opportunity at one end. We wanted a victory and we got the three points, we have a tough group.”
“I liked the approach to the first match, but we should have done better in the second half. In the field a new Lazio? They played very well like the regular starting eleven. They played with personality and we wanted to debut just like that, with a win. We know that the other matches will be very difficult. As for Caicedo, I can say that I never had any doubts: he is a professional who works hard – being behind Immobile is not easy and I am satisfied. He had an excellent match”.
