Unexpected draw
Lazio had trouble scoring and even risked losing
The season so far
The summer transfer window had seen the arrivals of Adam Marusic, Felipe Caicedo, Liverpool legend Lucas Leiva and Manchester United legend Nani. Goodbye Wesley Hoedt, Lucas Biglia and Keita Balde.
The season kicked off to a good start. Lazio managed to beat Juventus 3-2 in the Italian Super Cup with a goal in the dying seconds from youngster Alessandro Murgia. Doubles from Ciro Immobile and Paolo Dybala had made the game 2-2.
Today was the first league match of the season.
The match: Sunday, August 20, 2017, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Lazio were without injured Felipe Anderson, substituted by Simone Palombi, and Lucas Leiva. Spal were back in Serie A almost half a century after the last time.
The Ferraresi started very well and had a chance in the 8th minute. Pasquale Schiattarella after a quick corner passed the ball into the middle for the upcoming Federico Viviani whose shot was just wide. Shortly after a Sergej Milinkovic-Savic header off a Dusan Basta cross also just missed the target.
In the 27th minute Ciro Immobile was anticipated by Alfred Gomis in the box but he lost the ball. King Ciro tried to find the space to shoot but in the meantime most of Spal were there to cover for the keeper and by the time Immobile's shot came Gomis parried. Three minutes later another Spal chance again from a corner. Schiattarella received the ball in the box but took his time to switch foot so when he did shoot Stefan de Vrij deflected into corner.
After a Luis Alberto free kick which was saved into corner by Gomis, Spal had their third chance with Sauli Vaisanen again off a corner kick in the 43rd minute but he could not get a good connection with the ball and his header went too high.
The first half ended on a Basta cross which Immobile managed to control and volley towards the goal, but Gomis saved.
In the 53rd minute Palombi crossed too long but Senad Liulic managed to get to the ball on the far left but inside the box. Another cross and Immobile headed the ball over the crossbar.
Spal controlled the game and Lazio were too out of form to be able to increase their intensity. In the 82nd minute a volley from outside the penalty area from Lulic was parried by Gomis.
Lazio did try a final forcing in the last minutes but did not create anything dangerous and the match ended goalless.
A pity for the Biancocelesti but one could see that they were still a bit behind as far as reaching a decent form was concerned.
Who played for Lazio
Strakosha, Wallace, de Vrij, Radu, Basta (67’ Marusic), Parolo, Luis Alberto, Milinkovic-Savic, Lulic (85’ Caicedo), Immobile, Palombi (57’ Lukaku)
Substitutes: Guerrieri, Vargic, Bastos, Luiz Felipe, Hoedt, Patric, Di Gennaro, Murgia, Lombardi
Manager: Inzaghi
Who played for Spal
Gomis, Oikonomou (55' Cremonesi), Vicari, Vaisanen, Lazzari (88' Mattiello), Schiattarella, Viviani, Mora, Costa, Paloschi (62' Borriello), Floccari
Substitutes: Marchegiani, Poluzzi, Gasparetto, Bellemo, Rizzo, Konate, Salamon, Schiavon, Antenucci
Manager: Semplici
Referee: Abisso
What happened next
In Campionato, despite the goalless draw at home against Spal in the opening game, Lazio did quite well. Big victories (6-1 against Sassuolo and 5-1 away to Benevento) plus the surprise win in Turin against Juventus with Thomas Strakosha saving a penalty in the last second.
This was the first season with the introduction of the VAR, the video assistant referee, which should have brought fewer mistakes from the men in black. Should, because starting from the derby in November, Lazio were certainly not helped by the new system. The Roma penalty was very dubious (Lazio lost), the penalty given to Fiorentina the next game was non-existent (and Lazio drew), the penalty not given to Lazio against Torino was massive and the Immobile sending off ridiculous (Lazio lost). The limit was reached against Milan in January. Milan’s first goal was blatantly scored with a hand but nobody noticed. All this cost Lazio many points which could have allowed them to be much higher up the table.
At the end of the first half of the season Lazio were 4th. They stayed fourth for a while and even reached 3rd at the end of February but it lasted just one game as they lost at home against Juventus in injury time. In mid-March they slipped to fifth but again moved up to third in early April and stayed there until three games to the end of the season. The first four qualified for the Champions League. They were tied with Roma and had a four-point lead over Inter.
But with Immobile injured they drew the first game at home and Inter reduced the deficit to two points. In the penultimate game Lazio had to win against struggling Crotone but only managed to draw. So did Inter, so the final game at the Olimpico against the Nerazzurri was decisive.
With 12 minutes to go Lazio were winning 2-1, but Inter managed to score two goals in 4 minutes and Lazio had to settle for Europa League. A big blow.
Lazio 2017-18
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals scored |
Serie A | 38 | 21 | 9 | 8 | 89 |
Coppa Italia | 4 | 2 | 2 | - | 5 |
Europa League | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 26 |
Super Coppa | 1 | 1 | - | - | 3 |
Total | 55 | 31 | 13 | 11 | 123 |
Top five appearances
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Europa League | Super Coppa |
Strakosha | 53 | 38 | 4 | 10 | 1 |
Leiva | 50 | 36 | 4 | 9 | 1 |
Lulic | 50 | 35 | 4 | 10 | 1 |
Milinkovic-Savic | 48 | 35 | 4 | 8 | 1 |
de Vrij | 47 | 36 | 3 | 7 | 1 |
Immobile | 47 | 33 | 4 | 9 | 2 |
Luis Alberto | 47 | 34 | 3 | 9 | 1 |
Top five goal scorers
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Europa League | Super Coppa |
Immobile | 41 | 29 | 2 | 8 | 2 |
Milinkovic-Savic | 14 | 12 | - | 2 | - |
Luis Alberto | 12 | 11 | - | 1 | - |
Felipe Anderson | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | - |
de Vrij | 7 | 6 | - | 1 | - |
Let's talk about Simone Palombi
Simone Palombi was born in Tivoli near Rome on April 23, 1996. He grew up in the Lazio youth sector and thrived under the guidance of Simone Inzaghi with whom he won two Primavera Coppa Italia’s and one Supercoppa.
He seemed to be a predestined player. At Primavera level he scored 55 goals in 92 appearances. He was first loaned to Ternana in 2016 and he did very well with 30 appearances and 9 goals. Back at Lazio in 2017, Inzaghi threw him on the pitch in the first game of the 2017-18 season against Spal. It looked like it would be the first of many but instead was his last. He made a couple more appearances in Europa League before he was loaned to Salernitana for six months. What followed was a number of years on loan to Lecce, Cremonese and Pisa where he did not do too badly but never managed to reach a level that could induce Lazio to keep him. In those three years he played 95 games with 22 goals.
In August 2021 he was sold to Alessandria in Serie B and scored only three goals in 31 appearances. He was then loaned to Pordenone in Serie C and in 2023 he signed for Padova again in the third tier. In Veneto he played 38 games with 9 goals.
He has four caps with the Italian Under-21 national team.
Simone Palombi promised to be the player who could take over from Ciro Immobile but he did not fulfil expectations.
Lazio Career
Season | Total appearances | Serie A | Europa League |
2017-18 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
Sources
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