Marco Baroni’s Lazio were a little deflated in their pre-season friendly with Triestina, being held to a 1-1 draw by the Serie C side.
The Biancocelesti lined up a strong squad in their third pre-season test at the Auronzo di Cadore training camp, deploying a front three of Gustav Isaksen, Tijjani Noslin and Loum Tchaouna. Nicolo Rovella, Matias Vecino and Matias Guendouzi lined up behind them in the midfield.
Ivan Provedel was deployed in goal, behind a defence of Adam Marusic, Patric, Alessio Romagnoli and Elseid Hysaj. Nuno Tavares is working back from a minor issue and didn’t take part in proceedings.
Lazio got off to a strong start in Auronzo and took an early lead after a Guendouzi penalty in the ninth minute, which was awarded after Patric was fouled in the Triestina penalty area.
The Biancocelesti then tried to focus on their build-up play and continued to play the ball out from the back, but failed to impress in the final third, failing to double their lead heading into the half time break. In the 39th minute, Romagnoli went off injured and was replaced by Nicolo Casale.
Lazio struggled to impress in the second half and their lack of decisiveness in the final third came back to haunt them in the closing stages, when a shot from Eetu Vertainen bounced around before deflecting off Manuel Lazzari into the back of the net, making it 1-1 in the 81st minute.
It was a fairly disappointing showing from Lazio, who clearly have a number of things to work on ahead of the 2024-25 season.
