Game 8, Serie A
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Lazio Messina 2-0
Lazio with a good 2-0 win move away from troubled waters
The season started with a 3-0 defeat by Milan in the Supercoppa final. In the league Lazio earned 7 points in the first 3 games, with two away wins, but then started struggling. In the next four games the Biancocelesti only managed to muster one point (away draw at Bergamo). Lazio were on 8 points. The game this evening was a must win.
The match
A crowd of 35,000 for this midweek league game on a humid night in Rome.
Both sides had absences. Lazio were without César, E. Filippini, Fabio Liverani, Luciano Zauri and Simone Inzaghi while Paolo Negro was left out in favour of debutant Leonardo Talamonti. Messina had to do without Mark Zoro suspended and injured José Mamede, Rafael, Luca Fusco, Mirko Conte, Raffaele Ametrano and Domenico Giampà. The Messinesi also left out Di Napoli in favour of Iliev.
Messina with their cautious line-up made their intentions clear from the start, with a buttoned up set up and without Di Napoli.
Lazio started aggressively and after only 45 seconds Roberto Muzzi had a shot walled into corner by a defender. From the subsequent corner Lazio then hit a post with a Christian Manfredini header. The Italian, with Ivory Coast origins, then had another header go just wide in the 16th minute.
Messina rarely got out of their own half and in the 18th minute from a corner Manfredini again got a header in but it hit a defender and went over the bar.
In the 31st minute another header, this time by Fernando Couto was cleared near the goalline by Zanchi.
In the 35th minute Lazio went ahead with their best player so far, Manfredini. Following moments of confused defending by the visitors the ball bounced loose at the edge of the box, Manfredini did not think twice and hammered a low left-footed strike into the bottom right corner. A cracking goal, Lazio 1 Messina 0.
Lazio deservedly in front at halftime in a one-way traffic game so far.
For the second 45 minutes Messina obviously had to risk a bit more and they logically brought on Arturo Di Napoli for the Greek Gonias.
Lazio too were soon forced to make a change in the 51st minute when Muzzi pulled up with a muscular problem and was replaced by young Claudio De Sousa.
In the 53rd minute Messina had their first real shot on goal with a low Alessandro Parisi freekick safely blocked by Matteo Sereni.
In the 57th minute a colossal chance for the Giallorossi. A low free kick by Di Napoli from the right side of the box was turned towards goal by Rahman Rezaei and parried on the line by Sereni, the ball came back to Salvatore Aronica but his close-range attempt was cleared off the line by Ousmane Dabo.
In the 59th minute Lazio lost another player to injury as Sebastiano Siviglia was carried off on a stretcher and replaced by Spaniard Oscar Lopez.
Messina, from being too defensive, now were the opposite and Lazio had acres of space on the counter attack. In the 64th minute messina put another striker on, Nicola Amoruso for Alessandro Cucciari. In the 65th minute Lazio scored their second. In Lazio's half Tommaso Rocchi fed Goran Pandev on the left wing, he skilfully dribbled Parisi and Salvatore Sullo just before the halfway line and suddenly he was alone, so raced towards the area and squared to De Sousa, who had followed, the youngster with only the keeper to beat put it in the top right corner. Lazio 2 Messina 0. A brilliant run by Pandev and well taken by 19-year-old De Sousa.
Lazio then controlled the game with Messina's only threat coming from an Iliev low left-footed shot from inside the area but it went wide and Sereni seemed to have it covered. Final score Lazio 2 Messina 0.
A good win for Lazio. They had been aggressive, positive and concentrated until the end and there was no dispute, they were the better side. An important three points to push them up to mid-table.
Messina had been too negative in the first half and then too unbalanced in the second.
Who played for Lazio
Sereni, Oddo, Talamonti, F. Couto, Siviglia (56' Oscar Lopez), Giannichedda, Dabo, Manfredini, Pandev (87' Di Canio), Rocchi, Muzzi (51' De Sousa)
Substitutes: Casazza, A. Filippini, Seric, E. Gonzalez
Manager: Caso
Who played for Messina
Storari, Zanchi, Rezaei, Aronica, Parisi, Gonias (46' Di Napoli), Coppola (69' Donati), Cucciari (64' Amoruso), Sullo, Zampagna, Iliev
Substitutes: Eleftheropoulos, Eramo, Oliva, D'Alterio
Manager: Mutti
Referee: Cassarà
Goals: 36' Manfredini, 65' De Sousa
Sources
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