Lazio responded well in their tough clash against Fiorentina last night, coming away 1-0 winners.
Coach Maurizio Sarri wanted to see an important reaction from the squad following their painful 4-1 loss to Hellas Verona on Sunday, and the players certainly delivered in the Stadio Olimpico as they secured all three points in a difficult match against Vincenzo Italiano’s Viola.
Below are the two squads in Lazio’s 1-0 win over Fiorentina:
- Lazio (4-3-3): Pepe Reina; Manuel Lazzari, Luiz Felipe, Francesco Acerbi, Adam Marusic; Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Danilo Cataldi, Luis Alberto; Felipe Anderson, Ciro Immobile, Pedro.
- On the bench: Thomas Strakosha, Marius Adamonis, Elseid Hysaj, Patric, Stefan Radu, Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro, Lucas Leiva, Gonzalo Escalante, Toma Basic, Luka Romero, Raul Moro, Vedat Muriqi.
- Fiorentina (4-3-3): Pietro Terracciano, Lorenzo Venuti, Nikola Milenkovic, Lucas Martinez Quarta, Cristiano Biraghi; Alfred Duncan, Lucas Torreira, Gaetano Castrovilli; Jose Callejon, Dusan Vlahovic, Riccardo Sottil.
- On the bench: Antonio Rosati, Giacomo Bonaventura, Riccardo Saponara, Youssef Maleh, Aleksa Terzic, Vittorio Agostinelli, Marco Benassi, Alvaro Odriozola, Sofyan Amrabat, Matija Nastasic, Igor, Eljon Toci.
Sarri Calls Lazio’s 1-0 Win vs Fiorentina “The Best Game of the Season”
Lazio started the first half well and Immobile had an early chance after only 11 minutes, but shot the ball wide.
The match was tight and Fiorentina’s chance with Vlahovic in the 21st minute was a scary moment for the Biancocelesti faithful, but luckily for them his header went wide.
Lazzari’s impact on the match increased after this, and his good attacking move set up a chance for Immobile, whose shot is disappointedly off-target.
A few minutes later and Lazzari had his own chance, but his long-range effort was saved by Terracciano.
Going into the break, it was a tight and exciting battle in the Stadio Olimpico, and everything was still tied up 0-0.
Lazio’s Player Ratings for 1-0 Win vs Fiorentina: Pedro & Milinkovic-Savic the Best
Fiorentina had the first real chance of the second half, with Torreira taking a pop shot after a scramble in the penalty area.
In the 52nd minute, Lazio shot off on a counter attack and Spanish veteran Pedro perfectly finished the move, finding the back of the net to make it 1-0.
A tense battle followed this but neither team had any particularly dangerous chances, with the ball often being caught up in the midfield.
In the 77th minute Sarri made his first chance, switching Luiz Felipe for Patric, with the Brazilian suffering from a slight pain.
A few minutes later the 62-year-old Italian coach followed this up with another change, taking off Milinkovic-Savic and replacing him with Basic.
Sarri’s last two substitutions came in the 84th minute, when he took off Pedro and Cataldi, replacing them with Moro and Leiva respectively.
Lazio held on valiantly and secured the three points, with the match ending 1-0 after five minutes of added time.
