Double Candreva

Season 2015-16

Game 17, Serie A

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan

Inter Lazio 1-2

Candreva brace against Inter may give Lazio new lease of life

One could see immediately that Lazio were having problems and they were not playing as well as 2014-15. Narrow wins and big defeats (4-0 against Chievo, 5-0 against Napoli), players who were not performing as well as the previous year (Felipe Anderson for example) or other fundamental pieces that Lazio lost through injury (Stefan de Vrij) all led to a disappointing season.

A season which seemed basically over when Lazio collected only two points in seven games between the end of October and mid-December. The Biancocelesti were 12th.

The match

No fussing between the teams as the game got off to a quick start. In the 4th minute a long pass from Stevan Jovetic to Ivan Perisic who stopped the ball just as he was entering the box but it went a bit too long and Etrit Berisha was able to block any danger. A minute later Lazio scored. Corner for the Biancocelesti, Lucas Biglia looked as if he was going to cross the ball but instead, he passed to Antonio Candreva outside the box centre-right, immediate shot on to the front post and Lazio were one up.

Inter in shock, they probably thought it would be an easy match seeing the psychological conditions of the Biancocelesti. Throughout the entire first half the Neoroazzurri were unable to muster anything even close to a goal chance. Instead, it was Lazio who threw away the possibility of doubling the score. In the 43rd minute Felipe Melo “passed” to Felipe Anderson who beat a first Inter player, then a second and then a third and found himself alone in front of Samir Handanovic with the ball slightly too long. In came Candreva who shot over the crossbar.

The match did not change in the second half with Inter continuing to press Lazio but completely ineffectively. Until the 61st minute when Jeison Murillio stole a ball off a Lazio attack and passed up front to Mauro Icardi who beat Mauricio and Wesley Hoedt for speed and with a clinical shot gave the Neroazzurri their undeserved equaliser.

The teams did try to score another but they were too poor to create anything particularly dangerous. In the 87th minute Candreva tried a cross near the corner kick on the right, it was walled by Gary Medel, Abdoulay Konko got to the ball and tried again but it was deflected by Murillio and went up in the air inside the box. As Sergej Milinkovic-Savic was about to control it, Felipe Melo brought him down. Penalty for Lazio. Candreva from the spot kick aimed low and left, Handanovic parried, ball back to Candreva who scored Lazio’s winner.

Felipe Melo, conscious of having given the game away, then tried to decapitate Biglia with his leg way too high and was sent off. As was Milinkovic-Savic, getting a second booking for wasting time (probably a crowd appeaser from the ref).

Ultimately a great win for Lazio taking advantage of a pretty dismal Inter.

Who played for Inter

Handanovic, Montoya, Miranda, Murillo, Telles (89' Palacio), Biabiany (57' Brozovic), Felipe Melo, Medel, Perisic, Icardi, Jovetic (57' Ljajic)

Substitutes: Carrizo, Jesus, Dodò, Kondogbia, Guarin, Santon, D'Ambrosio, Nagatomo, Manaj

Manager: Mancini

Who played for Lazio

Berisha, Konko, Hoedt, Mauricio, Radu, Biglia, Candreva (95’ Patric), Milinkovic-Savic, Parolo, Felipe Anderson (82’ Keita), Matri (73’ Djordjevic)