Game 15, Serie A
Sunday, December 9, 2001
Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Lazio Fiorentina 3-0
Lazio clinched an ultimately easy win against Fiorentina who, despite being disguised in unlikely red and white stripes, confirmed their recent poor form and to be going through a crisis period.
Lazio came out to a 45,000 home crowd as strong favourites facing an off form Fiorentina. After an early opportunity for Hernan Crespo it took them only 12 minutes to impose their superiority. The ball was won back by Dejan Stankovic 30 metres out and Giannichedda slotted a pass to his right to Karel Poborsky at the edge of the area, the Czech pushed the ball into his stride a couple of metres inside the box and hammered an unstoppable cross goal shot.
Fiorentina did muster up a reaction but had a Ganz goal correctly disallowed for offside and a Baronio shot blocked by Fabio Liverani. For Lazio Fernando Couto almost doubled the lead just before half time.
The second half began with Lazio on the attack and Stankovic shot just over the bar and a Simone Inzaghi header was well saved by Manninger. In the 59th minute Inzaghi was put clean through towards goal with only the keeper to beat but was hypnotized by the “Viola” number 1 and the ball was saved spinning up to the edge of the box where Crespo crashed in a spectacular left-footed volley. A superb strike, a combination of agility, timing, technique and power for a memorable goal.
In the 62nd minute Fiorentina's hopes of a comeback were definitely dashed when Baronio was shown a red card for dissent. Lazio just controlled the game from then on but again found the net, for a third time, with 4 minutes to go. A good move started by Alessandro Nesta was skilfully finished off by Claudio Lopez with a perfectly placed volley from the edge of the area.
All in all a routine win for Lazio with too much quality for a poor Fiorentina who in addition didn't see things go their way in crucial moments, often the case when a situation is spiralling negatively out of control.
Who played for Lazio
Marchegiani, Negro, Nesta, Fernando Couto, César, Poborsky (41' Mendieta), Giannichedda, Liverani (81' Fiore), Stankovic, S. Inzaghi, Crespo (81' C. Lopez)
Substitutes: Concetti, Mihajlovic, D. Baggio, Kovacevic
Manager: Zaccheroni
Who played for Fiorentina
Manninger, Ceccarelli, Torricelli, Moretti, Vanoli, Tarozzi (61' Rossi), Di Livio, Baronio, Amoroso (73' Benin), Nuno Gomes, Ganz (65' Vakouftsis)
Substitutes: Taglialatela, Agostini, Amaral, Ficagna
Manager: Mancini
Referee: Bertini
Goals: 12' Poborsky, 59' Crespo, 86' C.Lopez
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