A taste of Sarri
Lazio demolish Spezia after falling behind giving a taste of future Sarriball, hopefully
Also on this day: August 28, 2007, Dinamo București Lazio 1-3 Champions League Third Qualifying Round. In difficult circumstances Lazio manage to beat Dinamo București coming from behind. Player of the day: Lorenzo De Silvestri
The season so far
The planning of the 2021-22 season practically started only a few days after the end of the previous one. Simone Inzaghi, Claudio Lotito and Igli Tare met in the evening of May 23 to discuss the manager’s contract renewal. By the very early hours of the 24th all was settled: Inzaghi would sign another contract with Lazio and was expected at the club headquarters the next morning. This is what he told his closest collaborators as well as a few players.
What was really happening? Apparently Inzaghi was buying time, faking a possible renewal with Lazio while at the same time negotiating a deal with Inter. On the morning of the 24th, Simone called Lotito to basically say “sorry, ain’t coming in this morning, gonna sign with Inter”. A shock for Lazio who really did not expect to lose Inzaghi. Apparently Inzaghi and Tare had even spoken about the summer transfers. Everything had been agreed. Lazio had to start from scratch.
Lotito at this point had to decide what to do. So he chose change, drastic change, both in mentality and professionalism: in came Maurizio Sarri. This meant moving from the Inzaghi classic 3-5-2 formation to 4-3-3, a BIG change.
Lazio had budget problems and could not invest too much on new players: in came Mattia Zaccagni, Pedro, Toma Basic, Elsied Hysaj, Luka Romero and the return of Felipe Anderson. Senad Lulic and Marco Parolo did not have their contract extended and Lazio also said goodbye to Joaquin Correa and Felipe Caicedo.
Today was only the second match of the season. In the first Lazio had come from behind and won 3-1 at Empoli.
The match: Saturday, August 28, 2021, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Spezia started strongly and went ahead after only four minutes. Emmanuel Gyasi ran down the left wing, entered the box and tried a shot which Pepe Reina parried exactly in the direction of Daniele Verde who had an open goal chance and did not miss. Lazio trailing just like the previous game but just like the previous game they quickly turned the game around.
One minute later Pedro to Ciro Immobile in the penalty area centre right, chip under the ball and it was 1-0. Another ten minutes and Immobile scored his brace. Felipe Anderson from the left, ball to Luis Alberto just outside the box, pass to Immobile, big shot, 2-1 for the Biancocelesti.
Pedro had a couple of chances in the 18th and 31st minute but both times his shots were saved by Jeroen Zoet.
After 25 minutes Manuel Lazzari was forced off and replaced by Adam Marusic.
In the 44th minute Pedro was fouled in the box by Martin Elric. VAR were called into action and it was a penalty to Lazio. Immobile was ready for his hattrick but Zoet did not agree and saved into corner. Not to worry. Luis Alberto took the corner kick, long ball over the keeper’s head and onto the far post where King Ciro got his revenge. Lazio 3 Spezia 1.
The second half opened like the first half had closed, that is, with another Lazio goal. Reina with the ball, long pass to Felipe Anderson who lobbed over Kelvin Amian and ran forward unmarked to score his first goal for the club since his return.
In the 54th minute almost exactly the same play. Reina to Felipetto who tried to run off but was grabbed and pulled down by Amian. Red card inevitable.
The game quietened down now but came to life suddenly in the 70th minute when Luis Alberto put the ball into the gap in the Spezia defence, Elseid Hysaj went for it, resisted the return of Luca Vignali and made no mistake.
Having provided three assists during this game, it was only right that Luis Alberto had a chance to score and he did just that in the 85th minute when from inside the box Raul Moro saw his compatriot on the edge and dead central, ball to the magician who closed the set 6-1.
Good game for Lazio, things are looking promising.
Who played for Lazio
Reina, Lazzari (25’ Marusic), Patric, Acerbi, Hysaj, Milinkovic-Savic (71’ Cataldi), Leiva, Luis Alberto, Felipe Anderson (81’ Romero), Immobile (81’ Muriqi), Pedro (70’ Moro).
Substitutes: Strakosha, Adamonis, Radu, Vavro, Akpa Akpro, Escalante, Basic
Manager: Sarri
Who played for Spezia
Zoet, Nikolaou, Erlic, Vignali (80' Antiste), Amian, S. Bastoni, Maggiore, Ferrer, Verde (59' Hristov), Gyasi, E. Colley (59' Mraz)
Substitutes: Sala, Kovalenko, Podgoreanu, Zovko, Provedel
Manager: Thiago Motta
Referee: Dionisi
Goals: 4’ Verde, 5’ Immobile, 15’ Immobile, 45+2’ Immobile, 47’ Felipe Anderson, 70’ Hysaj, 85’ Luis Alberto
What happened next
The season started well but then became very inconsistent. Great wins (Inter, Roma), great collapses (Bologna, Verona, Napoli), completely incapable of finding any kind of happy medium. Whereas from an attacking point of view the team were doing well, they were terrible defensively, from the goalkeeper to the central defenders but the midfield was also to blame, unable to give sufficient cover. Some players adapted perfectly to the new system (Ciro Immobile was scoring more than ever, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic was having his best season at Lazio), others were having problems (Luis Alberto, Francesco Acerbi, Luiz Felipe, Manuel Lazzari). But Sarri did warn everybody that the first season was going to be a transitional one, and that it was preparatory for 2022-23.
The Europa League Group stage was determined by an incredible howler by Thomas Strakosha which cost Lazio the match against Galatasaray. This undermined the rest of the tournament as Lazio arrived second in their group and had to play Porto in the playoff. Despite showing that potentially the Biancocelesti were the better team, they lost in Portugal 2-1 due to defensive errors and only managed to draw 2-2 at home.
In Coppa Italia, the Biancocelesti struggled at home against Udinese and only won in extra time. The quarter final, played a few days before the Bologna game, against Milan was a disaster with Lazio having another one of their black outs. They lost 4-0 and were eliminated.
In Serie A, Europa League qualification was ultimately secured thanks to a last-minute equaliser in Turin against Juventus and the draw at home in the final game against Verona also clinched 6th place.
The player with most appearances was Felipe Anderson (48) and the top goal scorer was obviously Immobile with 32 goals. He was the top scorer in Serie A for the fourth time, the first Italian player ever to achieve such a feat.
Lazio 2021-2022
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals Scored |
Serie A | 38 | 18 | 10 | 10 | 77 |
Coppa Italia | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Europa League | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
Total | 48 | 21 | 14 | 13 | 88 |
Top five appearances
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Europa League |
Felipe Anderson | 48 | 38 | 2 | 8 |
Milinkovic-Savic | 47 | 37 | 2 | 8 |
Leiva | 45 | 35 | 2 | 8 |
Luis Alberto | 44 | 34 | 2 | 8 |
Cataldi | 42 | 32 | 2 | 8 |
Top five goal scorers
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Europa League |
Immobile | 39 | 27 | 1 | 4 |
Milinkovic-Savic | 11 | 11 | - | - |
Pedro | 10 | 9 | - | 1 |
Felipe Anderson | 7 | 6 | - | 1 |
Luis Alberto | 5 | 5 | - | - |
Zaccagni | 5 | 4 | - | 1 |
Let's talk about Raul Moro
Raul Moro was born on December 5, 2002, in Abrera near Barcelona. He played for a number of clubs at youth level: CG Manresa, Espanyol and Barcelona. In 2019 he signed for Lazio and played for the Primavera team. He debuted in Serie A against Juventus in July 2020. The following year he made another appearance in the last game of the season against Sassuolo. With the arrival of Maurizio Sarri, he joined the squad on a full-time basis and made 11 appearances in the 2020-21 season, making little impact. He seemed to lack the skills to play in Serie A.
In the summer of 2022, he was loaned to Ternana in Serie B but after six months he moved to Real Oviedo in the Spanish second tier for the rest of the season. In 2023 he was loaned to Real Valladolid with an option to buy at the end of the season. He made 31 appearances, and two goals, contributing to their promotion to La Liga. In June 2024 the Spanish club triggered the buyout option and he signed a four-year contract.
At Lazio he was considered a potential upcoming star but did not fulfil expectations. As a left winger he has quite a lot of speed and good dribbling skills but was not able to make any impact at all despite being highly considered.
Lazio Career
Season | Total appearances | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Europa League |
2019-20 | 1 | 1 | - | - |
2020-21 | 1 | 1 | - | - |
2021-22 | 18 | 11 | 2 | 5 |
Totals | 20 | 13 | 2 | 5 |
Sources
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