It’s been an interesting few days for the Lazio faithful. The 3-0 win over Bologna was much-needed after the Coppa Italia embarrassment last week, and now links with Alessio Romagnoli are starting to excite the fans.
The mood would have been undoubtedly sour had the Biancocelesti stumbled against Sinisa Mihajlovic’s side on Saturday, but luckily a strong performance by the squad secured the three points.
One player in particular that must be highlighted is Mattia Zaccagni. His growth in the last two months has been very impressive and he’s looking like the top signing of the summer for the Biancocelesti so far alongside Pedro (who has been a little quiet after the Christmas break).
Considering the disastrous January transfer window, Zaccagni’s contributions are now even more important, and so far he’s not disappointing. It would be a pleasure to see him earn his first Azzurri caps in the coming months, and I think it’s fair to say that they’d be well-deserved.
Lazio’s recent links with Alessio Romagnoli are exciting. The Italian defender’s contract expires with Milan this summer and now would be the perfect time for the player to join his childhood club, assuming he has no issues adapting to Maurizio Sarri’s system.
Another reason why these reports are so exciting is because any news related to Lazio’s defence is a perennial source of pain. It’s still unclear if Luiz Felipe will renew his contract or not, €3 million were invested in an unknown Serbian youngster (who now occupies one of the two non-EU slots), Francesco Acerbi’s performances have fallen off a cliff and Patric is still a regular feature.
If Biancocelesti fans know anything, it’s that no deal can be taken for granted until the player is seen with a blue and white shirt on at the Stadio Olimpico, and so let’s not pop the champagne just yet.
Finally, we have the first leg of the Europa League play-off tie against Porto. Joy. Surely I’m not alone in believing that Lazio should essentially sandbag this competition in order to focus on the league, right?
The Roman club’s results on the weekend have been significantly worse following a mid-week game, so a quick exit thanks to Porto may be a blessing in disguise. In any case, let’s just pray that the performance against Udinese on Sunday won’t torpedo our weekends.
– Apollo
