Game 15, Serie A
Friday, December 3, 2010
Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Lazio Inter 3-1
Lazio earned a hard fought but deserved victory over previous season's “Triplete” winners.
The season had generally started well for Lazio who despite losing the opener (Sampdoria) and later the derby, had stacked up 27 points. The new signing Hernanes was proving to be an excellent buy.
Inter's season had not been great by their recent dominating standards. There had been victories but also defeats against Roma and Milan and in particular they were being slowed down by too many draws. They came to the Olimpico on 23 points.
The match
An unusual Friday night kick-off was played in front of a 50,000 crowd on a cold, wet Roman evening. Inter were without injured star forwards Diego Milito and Samuel Eto'o but still had the main block of players who had made a clean sweep of trophies the year before.
Lazio were the team who started the game more positively and after an initial tactical 15 minutes had the first chance. On 18th minute Sergio Floccari's header was parried by Luca Castellazzi and Stefano Mauri's subsequent shot was walled by Javier Zanetti.
Lazio however continued to push forward and in the 26th minute broke the deadlock. A corner by Hernanes was headed towards goal by Floccari but somehow stopped from going over the line by the keeper, the loose ball was then bicycle kicked away by Esteban Cambiasso but it then came off Giuseppe Biava's hip and ended up in the back of the net. A slightly unorthodox goal but as they say they all count and the lead was no less than Lazio deserved.
At that point Inter also lost former Lazio Dejan Stankovic through injury (on came Thiago Motta) but they did have a couple of chances themselves not without the complicity of Lazio's keeper Fernando Muslera. The clearest of the two was an apparently harmless freekick by Wesley Sneijder with Muslera's clumsy parry setting up a colossal chance for Goran Pandev, but the North Macedonian found the ball on his wrong foot and couldn't find the target with the rebound.
The second half saw Inter try to defend higher but they were promptly punished. Unlikely goal scorer Biava was back to his bread and butter and with a strong tackle in midfield won the ball back, Hernanes then floated a perfect long range pass over the Inter defence which Mauro Zarate ran onto and chipped a left footed winner past Castellazzi to make it 2-0.
This put Lazio in an ideal tactical position and they had several chances to finish Inter off, especially with Floccari and Mauri, but the opportunities were squandered and Inter, seeing themselves let off the hook, eventually struck back with 15 minutes remaining. Former Lazio Pandev took advantage of two lucky rebounds off the two Lazio central defenders to hammer the ball past Muslera. Inter logically threw caution to the wind and an increasingly nervous Lazio had to endure a tense last 10 minutes. Inter attacked and had a huge chance to equalize with Ivan Cordoba whose close-range shot was somewhat fortuitously saved into corner by Muslera.
Lazio's win was finally sealed in the 89th minute when a Hernanes free kick from the edge of the box curled over the wall beating Castellazzi on his left post. The game was won even if Inter did hit an injury time crossbar with a long range shot by Dutchman Sneijder.
A thoroughly deserved 3 points for the hosts who could have avoided a nerve racking last 10 minutes had they taken some of the clear chances they set up. A convincing win against a disappointing Inter who despite their fighting spirit seemed to lack a clear game plan.
Lazio flew top of the table on level points with Milan who still had to play Brescia at the weekend.
Who played for Lazio
Muslera, Lichtsteiner, Biava, Dias, Radu, Brocchi, Matuzalem, Mauri, Hernanes (90' Bresciano), Zarate (80' Ledesma), Floccari (81' Rocchi)
Manager: Reja
Who played for Inter
Castellazzi, Natalino (82' Santon), Cordoba, Lucio, Zanetti, Cambiasso, Stankovic (36' Thiago Motta), Muntari (55' Alibec), Sneijder, Pandev, Biabiany
Substitutes: Orlandoni, Benedetti, Materazzi, Nwankwo
Manager: Benitez
Referee: Orsato
Goals: 26' Biava, 52' Zarate, 74' Pandev, 89' Hernanes
Sources
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