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January 29, 2011: Lazio Fiorentina 2-0

Writer's picture: Lazio StoriesLazio Stories

Kozak resolves Viola case


Two goals by Czech striker give Lazio deserved win



Also on this day:


Source Lazio Wiki
Source Lazio Wiki

The season so far


The previous season Lazio had finished 12th. They had started off with Davide Ballardini who had also surprisingly won the Supercoppa against Inter 2-1 in Beijing. He had then struggled and been replaced by Edy Reja in early February.


This season Reja had been confirmed. The main new additions to the squad were: defender Javier Garrido (Manchester City), midfielders Mark Bresciano (Palermo - out of contract), Álvaro Gonzalez (Nacional Montevideo) and Hernanes (Săo Paulo). The Brazilian in particular was seen as a promising signing. Recently in the winter session midfielder Ogenyi Onazi (My People) and forward Giuseppe Sculli (Genoa-on loan) had been added.


Leaving were: defender Aleksandar Kolarov (Manchester City), Sebastiano Siviglia (retiring), midfielders Ousmane Dabo (end of contract), Thomas Hitzlsperger (end of contract - West Ham United) and forwards Julio Cruz and Simone Inzaghi (both retiring). Just recently defender Luis Pedro Cavanda had also left (Torino - on loan).


So far, after 21 games Lazio were in 5th position on 37 points. Lazio had started well and up to the 11th fixture were top of the table. They then became inconsistent despite some good wins (including Inter 3-1). Lazio had won 11 (including Fiorentina 2-1 away), drawn 4 and lost 6 (including derby 0-2). Their most recent result was a 1-3 away defeat at Bologna.

 

In the Coppa Italia Lazio had defeated Portogruaro and Albinoleffe both 3-0 at home but then lost 1-2 to Roma in the last 16.

 

Fiorentina had finished 11th the previous season under Cesare Prandelli. Both games against Lazio were draws. They had reached the last 16 of the Champions League (including a historic 2-1 away win in Liverpool) but lost to Bayern Munich on away goals (1-2, 3-2).

 

This season the manager was former Lazio player Siniša Mihajlović with Dario Marcolin as his assistant. The new signings were: keeper Artur Boruc (Celtic), defender Felipe (Udinese), midfielders Gaetano D'Agostino (Udinese) and Alessio Cerci (Roma).

 

Leaving Florence were defender Massimo Gobbi (Parma) and forward Keirrison (Santos). So not a busy transfer market for the Gigliati.

 

The Viola were currently in joint 12th position with Parma on 25 points. The Florentines had won 6, drawn 7 (including Juventus 1-1 away) and lost 8 (including Lazio 1-2 at home). They were however unbeaten in the last four games.

 

In Coppa Italia Fiorentina had been eliminated in the last 16 by Parma 1-2 away after extra-time. The Viola had previously knocked out Empoli 1-0 and Reggina 3-0, both at home.

 

Lazio were favourites today, 12 points ahead in the table and playing at home but were also very inconsistent.


The match: Saturday, January 29, 2011, Stadio Olimpico, Rome


Ticket owned by Dag Jenkins. Photo by Dag Jenkins
Ticket owned by Dag Jenkins. Photo by Dag Jenkins

A 6 o'clock Saturday kick off on a humid evening only attracted about 20,000 to the Olimpico.

 

Lazio had some important absences as neither Tommaso Rocchi (injured) nor Mauro Zarate (suspended) were available. The Biancocelesti also had defender André Dias out and compatriot Hernanes who however was at least on the bench.

 

Fiorentina had defenders Cesare Natali and Manuel Pasqual, midfielders Juan Vargas and Marco Marchionni plus forward Adrian Mutu out.

 

The game did not really take off in the first half. The first thing that happened was Modibo Diakité having to go off injured in the 13th minute, replaced by Guglielmo Stendardo.

 

Lazio did not create much, but still more than Fiorentina. Sergio Floccari had a good effort but Artur Boruc saved well and then Cristian Ledesma had a shot go just wide of the right post. The Biancocelesti had a series of crosses but only found the target Libor Kozak once in the 26th minute but his close-range header's danger was defused by hitting Nikola Gulan.

 

In the 37th minute Lazio also lost Sergio Floccari who limped off and on came Giuseppe Sculli.

 

A minute later the Florentines had their only shot at goal with an Alessio Cerci effort saved into corner by Fernando Muslera.

 

In the 41st minute Álvaro González had a powerful strike but Boruc was ready and parried, denying the Uruguayan his phone call to his grandmother with his football boot (his customary goal celebration).

 

The first half unsurprisingly ended up 0-0. Lazio had tried but missed Hernanes' creativity up front while Fiorentina had proposed almost nothing at all.

 

For the second half the Viola put on a playmaker Gaetano D'Agostino and took off an excessively tame Adem Ljajić.

 

The second half was equally blocked with neither side creating any really dangerous goal scoring chances. Sculli had a low shot blocked by Boruc near the right post but the game needed an episode, a spark to change its monotony.

 

The game changer came in the 69th minute when Krøldrup blatantly tripped Kozak in the area. The lanky Czech striker took the spot kick perfectly, sending Boruc the wrong way. Lazio 1 Fiorentina 0.

 

Fiorentina showed no signs of life and Lazio doubled the score four minutes later. Stefano Mauri won back possession, Cristian Brocchi started the counterattack and found Sculli before the latter chipped a surgically precise cross to Kozak on the far post and the Czech headed in a straight forward finish. Lazio 2 Fiorentina 0.

 

The Gigliati tried to change the depressing script by replacing Cerci with forward Khouma el Babacar in the 70th minute and Marco Donadel with former Lazio (and not welcomed back well) Valon Behrami in the 73rd.

 

Fiorentina however continued in their sterile long balls to an always marked Alberto Gilardino.

 

In the 80th minute Lazio put on Hernanes for Gonzalez but they had already done enough to win the match. Final score Lazio 2 Fiorentina 0.

 

An ultimately deserved win for Lazio. The Biancocelesti had not created that much but still a lot more than the visitors. Despite missing Rocchi, Zarate and Hernanes, the unlikely hero was Kozak in his first league start. Fiorentina had been very poor, the imminent return of Adrian Mutu seemed vital at this point.

 

Lazio were momentarily up to joint 2nd place with Napoli on 40 points as the other teams would play the following day. Napoli then beat Sampdoria 4-0, Inter beat Palermo 3-2 and Roma won 1-0 in Bologna so Lazio dropped down to 5th place.

 

Fiorentina after today's lame performance were down to joint 13th place with Parma and Bologna on 25 points, only five from the relegation zone.

 

Who played for Lazio


Substitutes: Berni, Scaloni, Matuzalém, Foggia

Manager: Reja

 

Who played for Fiorentina


Boruc, De Silvestri, Gamberini, Krøldrup, Gulan, Santana, Donadel (73' Behrami), Montolivo, Cerci (70' Babacar), Gilardino, Ljajic (46' D'Agostino)

Substitutes: Neto, Comotto, Camporese, Bolatti

Manager: Mihajlovic

 

Referee: De Marco


Goals: 69' Kozak (pen), 73' Kozak



What happened next


Lazio finished 5th and qualified for the Europa League. They continued with their ups and downs and in the remaining fixtures winning 8, drawing 2 (including Milan 0-0 away a week later) and losing 6 (including derby 0-2). Top scorer was Hernanes with 12 goals (11 in A).

 

Fiorentina finished 9th. They improved after today and went unbeaten until April 10. In the next 16 games the Viola won 6, drew 8 and lost 2. Top scorer was Alberto Gilardino with 12 league goals.

 

Serie A champions were Milan for their 18th title. At the other end it was farewell to Bari, Brescia and Sampdoria.


Let's talk about Libor Kozak


Source Lazio Wiki
Source Lazio Wiki

I doubt there has ever been a centre-forward at Lazio as tall as Libor Kozak. At 1.93 he was an ideal player for crosses and not only. He was not slow either so he could score in any possible way.

 

Kozak was born in Brumov-Bylnice in the Czech Republic on May 30, 1989. Early in his career, as he was so tall, he played in defence but his goal scoring and dribbling skills made coaches move him forward. He started his football career with Opava and stayed there until 2008 debuting in the second Czech tier.

 

In 2008 he signed for Lazio. He initially played in the primavera team (U19's) but impressed Delio Rossi who started to call him for the A team. He debuted in Serie A on May 9, 2009 at San Siro against Inter. After three appearances he was loaned to Brescia in Serie B for the 2009-10 season.

 

Following a good year in Lombardy he was called back to Rome and played three years for the Biancocelesti. Kozak was not a goal scoring machine in Serie A (10 goals) but, particularly in his last year, he scored regularly in Europa League of which he was top scorer with 10 goals in 2012-‘13. He was also part of the squads that won the 2009 Coppa Italia and the historic one against Roma in 2013.

 

Adriano Galliani, Silvio Berlusconi’s right-hand man, when at Milan accused Kozak of being a dirty player and from then on he had a tough time with the Serie A referees. In a game with AC Milan, he had first elbowed Daniele Bonera and then literally clashed heads with Nicola Legrottaglie. Galliani at the end of the game went as far as saying that Libor should have been arrested.

 

In 2013 Lazio decided to cash in some money and sold Kozak to Aston Villa. After a good start, at the beginning of 2014 he suffered a serious injury breaking his leg. Due to complications following the operation, which went wrong, he missed the entire 2014-15 season. He came back after 605 days in August 2015 but in January he broke his ankle. In four years with the Villans he only played 22 games.

 

Once his contract expired, he signed for Bari in Serie B. In the 2017-18 season he appeared in 16 games scoring two goals but the club then went bust and he was a free agent.

 

In 2018 he signed for Livorno in Serie B but left after nine games to join Slovan Liberec. In 2019 he joined Sparta Prague and stayed for two years appearing in 55 games, scoring 22 goals and winning a domestic cup.

 

In 2021 he signed for Puskas Akademia in Hungary. After 29 appearances and 5 goals he moved back to the Czech Republic and signed with Slovacko. In January 2023 he signed with Trinity Zlin.

 

In the summer of 2023, he returned to Italy and signed for Arezzo in Serie C. He only played 7 league games and 1 in Coppa Italia.

 

He currently plays for his original club Opava in the Czech second tier.

 

Kozak has 9 caps with the Czech Republic and two goals (Hungary and Italy).

 


Lazio Career

Season

Total appearances (goals)

Serie A

Coppa Italia

Europa League

2008-09

3

3

-

-

2010-11

22 (7)

19 (6)

3 (1)

-

2011-12

24 (5)

17 (4)

-

7 (1)

2012-13

31 (10)

19

1

11 (10)

Total

80 (22)

58 (10)

4 (1)

18 (11)

Sources


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