Pre-season Friendly
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Falmer Stadium, Brighton
Brighton & Hove Albion Lazio 0-1
A promising game by English midfielder Morrison gives Lazio win in pre-season friendly
So far in the summer transfer market Lazio had signed defenders Jordan Lukaku (Oostende) and Wallace (Braga). In attack Lazio had signed Ciro Immobile (Sevilla). Lazio fans hoped other signings would follow to face a tough season ahead
Some players had left Lazio: the end of contract for Edson Braafheid, Abdoulay Konko, Stefano Mauri plus Miroslav Klose had retired. Defender Santiago Gentiletti had gone to Genoa. More were to leave over the summer.
The match
A 4 o'clock kick-off attracted about 10,000 spectators in the seaside town and about 400 Lazio fans.
The home side started strongly taking advantage of their more advanced fitness levels. After only three minutes a free kick from just outside the left vertex of the area was headed towards goal by Glenn Murray but it was slapped away by Etrit Berisha. Lazio responded with a Filip Djordjevic header.
Brighton pushed forward more and Lazio were sometimes in difficulty, also due to several mistakes by Wesley Hoedt. Lazio were less harmonious and struggled on the wings where Senad Lulic was not at decent fitness yet and Riccardo Kishna was too timid and hesitant. The liveliest for the Biancocelesti was Ravel Morrison who was always at the heart of Lazio's initiatives.
In the 27th minute it was in fact the Englishman who gave Lazio the lead. A clearance from the home side's defence went up in the air and Morrison waited for it to come down and hit a low volley past David Stockdale. Brighton 0 Lazio 1.
The game continued at a good pace but without many goal scoring chances. Lazio seemed content to practice defending and Djordjevic was a bit isolated up front. It was however a physical and competitive game, what you want from a summer friendly.
In the second half Brighton made less changes than Lazio, who by the 64th minute had already made five. The fact that Brighton's season was about to start meant they had already shuffled things around in previous friendlies.
A curious fact occurred in the 61st minute when Brighton suddenly changed from their classic blue and white shirts into black ones. The traditional ones maybe were too similar to Lazio's but why so late in the game? A new merchandising tactic?
Brighton tried for an equaliser but apart from a few corners and goal scrambles were rarely really dangerous. Lazio's team lost shape with a total of eleven changes. They had a few counterattacks but always wasted the last pass. Final score Brighton 0 Lazio 1.
A win in England is always positive but Lazio took optimism in particular from Ravel Morrison's performance. He had been busy, attacking and defending and looked generally keen and interested. It could be a false dawn of course as the previous summer he had looked good only to fade during the season.
Lazio had been solid and now waited for Lucas Biglia, Federico Marchetti, Marco Parolo and Ciro Immobile to join the team and hopefully some more summer signings. Lazio's only worry was Djordjevic going off with an ankle injury.
Who played for Brighton
Stockdale, Rosenior, Saltor (80' White), Dunk, Bong, Knockaert (80' Manu), Stephens, Kayal, Murphy, Hemed (59' Baldock)
Substitutes: Maenpaa, Skalak, Holla, Ince, Hunt, Adekugbe
Manager: Hughton
Who played for Lazio
Berisha (52' Vargic), Basta (64' Patric, 80' Germoni), de Vrij (64' Mauricio), Hoedt (80' Prce), Radu (64' Lukaku), Milinkovic-Savic, Onazi (80' Murgia), Morrison (64' Lombardi), Kishna (64' Palombi), Djordjevic (52' Cataldi), Lulic (80' Oikonomidis)
Manager: S. Inzaghi
Referee: Davies
Goals: 27' Morrison
Sources
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