February 20, 2021: Lazio Sampdoria 1-0

Luis Alberto is enough to win

Luis Alberto with a goal in the first half gives Lazio a comfortable win

Also on this day

February 20, 1977, Lazio Fiorentina 4-1. A Rossi double and goals from D’Amico and Viola demolish Fiorentina.
February 20, 1949, Lazio Palermo 5-1. A Penzo hat trick plus goals from De Andreis and Puccinelli annihilate Palermo.

The season so far

The previous season Lazio had come fourth securing a Champions League qualification for the first time since 2007. At one point there were even scudetto hopes, but the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic and the forced stoppage took away the exceptional state of form Lazio were in so they had to settle for fourth.

This season there were high hopes to maintain the position acquired last year and to do well in CL. In the summer transfer window new players arrived: Pepe Reina (free agent), Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro (Salernitana), Gonzalo Escalante (free agent), Mohamed Fares (Spal), Andreas Pereira (on loan from Manchester United), Vedat Muriqi (Fenerbahçe) and the return of Wesley Hoedt on loan from Southampton. Leaving Lazio were Jordan Lukaku (loan to Antwerp), André Anderson (loan to Salernitana), Jony (loan to Osasuna), Bobby Adekanye (loan to Cadiz), Valon Berisha (Stade Reims), Riccardo Kishna and Ivan Vargic who had not renewed their contracts.

The summer was characterised by the possible arrival of David Silva, splendid Spanish midfielder who had not renewed his contract with Manchester City. The first contacts between the player's agent, his brother Nandez Jimenez, started on July 27. The first offer arrived on August 4: three-year contract, 10 billion euros gross, apartment in central Rome and the use of a private jet. Jimenez arrived in Rome on August 7 to fine tune the details and all was decided. David Silva would be playing for Lazio.

Slight problem. He had not signed the contract yet. Lazio sent the documentation and waited. The agent literally disappeared and Silva continued to train with Man City. Sporting director Igli Tare tried to reach out to the player and his entourage but to no avail. The club decided to issue an ultimatum for August 16. Still no news. On the 17th Jimenez contacted Lazio to say that the deal was off and a few hours later Silva signed for Real Sociedad.

What happened? David Silva’s agent used Lazio to get a Better deal with Real Sociedad. As a consequence, with the fans fuming at Tare for not having closed the deal, the club got anxious and signed Muriqi paying him way too much. But Igli needed to send a sign to calm things down. A big mistake.

At the end of the first half of the season they were sixth with Napoli and had four consecutive victories, including a 3-0 in the derby. The wins on the trot (including beating Atalanta in Bergamo) became six before falling to Inter in the previous match. The Biancocelesti were currently fifth together with Napoli and Atalanta. Champions League qualification was still a possibility despite the fact that they were not doing that well.

In the Champions League it was a different story. In their first game against Erling Haaland’s Borussia Dortmund, Lazio put on a marvellous display and won 3-1. With two wins and four draws they achieved second place, but now had to face Bayern Munich in the round of 16.

The match: Saturday, February 20, 2021, Stadio Olimpico, Rome

It took the teams 22 minutes to have a first shot at goal. Both were very slow in getting into the game. In the 22nd minute a Luis Alberto - Joaquin Correa one-two, the Spaniard in the penalty area tried a shot from a short distance but the ball went out. Two minutes later the Biancocelesti scored. On the counter attack Sergej Milinkovic-Savic to Luis Alberto in the box. The Spaniard controlled the ball and sent a curling shot which beat Audero.

In the 29th minute splendid pass from Luis Alberto to Ciro Immobile who tried a volley which alas ended in the stands. The King had another chance three minutes later thanks to a marvellous long pass from Francesco Acerbi. Immobile raced into the box and in front of Emil Audero tried to beat him but his shot was parried into corner.

In the 54th minute, the first real chance for Sampdoria. Tommaso Augello on the left dribbled past Adam Marusic and crossed, but it was too high and too powerful for Fabio Quagliarella to be able to direct it towards the goal. In the 63rd minute Antonio Candreva crossed into the box, Pepe Reina missed the ball completely but Jakub Jankto was unable to do better than shoot wide.

Lazio decided to defend and wait for Sampdoria to attack so that they could go off on the counter attack. Vedat Muriqi had a chance in the 67th minute but missed the ball completely in front of Audero. Samp tried hard for an equaliser but in injury time Lazio should have made it two. Milinkovic-Savic in front of the keeper instead of shooting decided to pass to Muriqi but made a mistake and Omar Colley managed to send the ball out for a corner.

Despite the last Genoese onslaught, the Biancocelesti kept their calm and added three points to their tally.

Who played for Lazio

Reina, Patric, Acerbi, Musacchio, Marusic, Milinkovic-Savic, Leiva (58’ Escalante), Luis Alberto (58’ Muriqi), Lulic (55’ Fares), Correa (55’ Akpa Akpro), Immobile (86’ Caicedo)

Substitutes: Alia, Pererira, Armini, Parolo, Cataldi

Manager: Inzaghi

Who played for Sampdoria

Audero, Ferrari, Yoshida (46' Bereszynski), Colley, Candreva, Silva, Ekdal, Augello, Ramirez (46' Jankto), Keita (67' Damsgaard), Quagliarella (81' Torregrossa)

Substitutes: Ravaglia, Letica, Tonelli, Regini, Leris, Ekdal, Askildsen, Verre, Gabbiadini

Manager: Ranieri

Referee: Massa

Goal: 24’ Luis Alberto

What happened next

The season was characterised by great games, on a par with the previous season, and matches where Lazio were completely absent. So often the team would make three steps forward one week and two back the week after. And these steps back were often against “weaker teams”.

Why were there problems? There were probably four reasons.

Lazio, for the first time in many many years, were in the Champions League. This sapped some of the strength out of the team.

The second problem was that the players signed in the summer were not doing well and the much-needed reinforcements came in areas where there was no need (€20 million for Vedat Muriqi) instead of where they were desperately needed (defence).

Simone Inzaghi was making many mistakes. He chose Mohamed Fares and the return of Wesley Hoedt in the transfer window and they were just not good enough; he kept insisting on playing Joaquin Correa who was the shadow of the previous season; kept Luis Alberto on the pitch for 90 minutes on his off days and substituted him early in the second half on his good days; had problems in reading the games and therefore often blundered substitutions. The management of Thomas Strakosha was also terrible and ruined not only the player but also his relationship with the club.

The last problem was Covid. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Lazio had lost themselves. Before Covid they were on top of their game, since, they were struggling.

In the Champions League the Biancocelesti were eliminated by Bayern Munich. In Coppa Italia they reached the quarter finals but were defeated by Atalanta.

In the next league game Lazio unjustifiably lost at Bologna and they were back to where they started. Another five consecutive wins allowed the Biancocelesti to fight for 4th place before the dream was shattered by Napoli in a 5-2 defeat.

There was still hope after beating Milan 3-0 at home but another black out against Fiorentina and a dismal performance against Roma were the nail in the coffin as far as Champions League qualification went. At least Lazio qualified for the Europa League.

The player with most appearances this season was Marusic with 46 games and the top scorer was obviously Immobile with 25 goals.

Let’s talk about Mateo Musacchio

Mateo Musacchio is in the front row first from left. Official SS Lazio photo

Mateo Musacchio was born on August 26, 1990 in Rosario, Argentina, He started playing football in the River Plate youth teams and then debuted in the first team in 2006-07. The following season River won the Clausura League. In 2009 he left for a European adventure and joined Villareal. Due to his very young age he first played with the B team in the second tier, but after six months he was promoted to the A side. He played seven and a half years with the Yellow Submarines, appearing 249 times with 7 goals. He was a very good defender who could also play in midfield if necessary.

In 2017 he joined Milan. He was a reserve at first but in 2018 he was regularly in the starting eleven alongside Alessio Romagnoli, with whom he made up a formidable defensive partnership. But during the 2019-20 season he started to have a few physical problems and played less. After making just 2 appearances in 2020, in January 2021 he was loaned to Lazio.

The Biancocelesti needed a strong defender since Luiz Felipe was out injured and Wesley Hoedt was not providing much help at the back. He debuted against Atalanta and made two other appearances before the Champions League home game against Bayern Munich. The Germans were strong but Lazio and Musacchio helped their win with a disastrous defensive performance and Musacchio never played again.

After a number of years without a contract he retired on July 1 2023 at 32 years of age.

Musacchio won a number of caps with Argentina: 15 with the Under 17s, 3 with the Under 20s and 6 with the national team spread between 2011 and 2017.