It’s Caicedo Time
A late goal in injury time from Caicedo secured a fifth consecutive win for Lazio.
Also on this day: November 24, 1946: Lazio Napoli 2-1. With two goals in the second half, the Biancocelesti overturn the result thanks to De Andreis and Koenig. Player of the day: Luigi Cassano
The season so far
A slow start for Lazio. Until October Lazio had shown potential but also thrown away points here and there. They were not playing well either. Ciro Immobile was scoring a lot as usual but it was not working. Even the Europa League campaign had started badly.
At the end of the first half in the match at home against Atalanta, Lazio were losing 3-0. The season was practically a write off, and it was only October. But then something must have triggered in the players’ heads. Lazio managed to draw the game and start a wining streak of four consecutive matches, including beating AC Milan for the first time since 1989.
The match: Sunday, November 24, 2019, Reggio Emilia, Mapei Stadium
Lazio started the match very strongly. In the 8th minute Joaquin Correa’s shot was saved by Andrea Consigli. Seven minutes later, a Luis Alberto-Correa one-two gave the Spaniard a splendid chance, but his shot was miraculously saved by the Sassuolo goalkeeper.
Nothing much happened until the 34th minute. Unfortunately for the Emilia Romagna side Consigli was unable to block the ball on a seemingly innocuous Immobile shot, following a Correa assist, and it was 1-0 for the Biancocelesti. It was Ciro’s 15th goal of the season so far.
Sassuolo woke up at this point and Alfred Duncan had a chance from outside the box two minutes later, but it was Lazio again with Correa who could have put the Biancocelesti two ahead but he was denied by Consigli in the 43rd minute. In the last minute of the first half there was a corner for Sassuolo. Federico Peluso headed the ball over to the far post and Francesco Caputo, unmarked, tapped the ball in.
A shock for Lazio, who was in complete control of the game. Sassuolo realised they could actually win the match and the Biancocelesti went into difficulty. But there were no really clear chances until the dying moments of the game.
In the first minute of injury time Felipe Caicedo and Luis Alberto passed the ball a few times between them. Caicedo, back to the goal, managed to turn around and put the ball in the far corner. 2-1 for Lazio and fifth consecutive win.
Who played for Sassuolo
Consigli, Toljan, Romagna, Marlon, Peluso, Locatelli (74' Bourabia), Duncan, Magnanelli, Djuricic (69' Kyriakoupoulos), Caputo, Boga (88' Raspadori).
Substitutes: Russo, Muldur, Tripaldelli, Traorè, Mazzitelli, Obiang.
Manager: De Zerbi.
Who played for Lazio
Strakosha, Patric, Luiz Felipe (49’ Bastos), Acerbi, Lazzari, Milinkovic-Savic, Leiva, Luis Alberto, Lulic (49’ Lukaku), Correa (79’ Caicedo), Immobile.
Manager: Inzaghi
Referee: Chiffi
Goals: 34’ Immobile, 45’ Caputo, 90 + 1’ Caicedo
What happened next
Lazio went on a roll after this match and the winning streak went to 11, a club record. Fantastic wins against Inter and Juventus allowed Lazio to fly to first place by the end of February. Lazio were playing beautifully, scoring lots of goals with Immobile on fire. In December Lazio won the Super Coppa against Juve in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, displaying a superiority not seen since 2000. Triumph was just around the corner, but so was Covid and the Campionato was stopped.
When Lazio returned, bad form, injuries and the problem in substituting key players Lucas Leiva and Senad Lulic broke everybody’s dreams.
However, they managed to secure 4th place and Champions League for the 2020-2021 season.
Immobile scored 36 goals in Serie A, equalling the Italian record set by Gonzalo Higuain. This was enough for him to win the European Golden Boot.
Lazio 2019-2020
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals Scored |
Serie A | 38 | 24 | 6 | 8 | 79 |
Coppa Italia | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
Europa League | 6 | 2 | - | 4 | 6 |
Super Coppa | 1 | 1 | - | - | 3 |
Total | 47 | 28 | 6 | 13 | 92 |
Top five appearances (complete player statistics)
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Europa League | Super Coppa |
45 | 36 | 2 | 6 | 1 | |
44 | 37 | 2 | 4 | 1 | |
44 | 38 | 1 | 4 | 1 | |
43 | 37 | 1 | 4 | 1 | |
41 | 36 | - | 4 | 1 |
Top five goal scorers (complete player statistics)
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Europa League | Super Coppa |
Ciro Immobile | 39 | 36 | 1 | 2 | - |
10 | 9 | - | 1 | - | |
9 | 9 | - | - | - | |
Sergej Milinkovic-Savic | 8 | 7 | - | 1 | - |
Luis Alberto | 7 | 6 | - | - | 1 |
Let’s talk about Felipe Caicedo
I have to confess that I have a soft spot for Felipe Caicedo that developed as soon as I saw his first goal against Nice in Europa League in his first year with Lazio. The goal was not spectacular but he believed in his chances and managed put the ball in the back of the net when it looked almost impossible. I do not think that many forwards in the world would have scored a goal like that one, not even Immobile.
Born in 1988 in Guayaquil City on September 5 1988, he moved to Europe in 2006 at the age of 17 when he joined Basel from his hometown team Rocafuerte. Despite initially playing in the youth team, he was able to play 30 games in all competitions for the Swiss club with 9 goals.
In January 2008 he was sold to Manchester City, playing 10 games as substitute in his first half season. He played 25 games in the 2008-09 season and scored seven goals, a good performance but being physically big he needed to play more to get into a decent form so for the next two years he played on loan in three different clubs: Sporting Lisbon for six months, Malaga for the rest of 2010 and Levante in 2010-11. His spell in the Valencian club really put him the spotlight and for the next three years he played for Lokomotiv Moscow. In January 2014 he joined Al-Jazira but at the end of the season he was a free agent.
From 2014 to 2017 he was back in the Liga playing for Espanyol. For the Spanish club he played almost 100 games but only scored 19 times.
In the summer of 2017 Lazio needed a player that could come on from the bench when Immobile was tiring. Someone who would not complain if he did not play too often, but also someone likable, who could get on with the rest of the group. Igli Tare thought Caicedo was the ideal player.
His first year was not an easy one. Immobile was on fire and scored almost every match. The fans were not impressed and a missed chance in the last away match against Crotone made everybody think that the earlier he left the club, the better. Everybody except me, of course.
The fans started to appreciate Caicedo in 2018-19. Immobile was out for a number of matches due to injury and Caicedo finally had the opportunity to demonstrate his ability as a team player and also as a goal scorer. He scored an important goal in the derby against Roma and was fundamental in the dying minutes of the Coppa Italia final when a defensive clearance became an assist for Correa’s 2-0. Him coming on for an out of form Immobile was really one of the decisive moves in securing Lazio wining the trophy.
In 2019-20 we can welcome the Caicedo zone. He had already scored a decisive goal in injury time in Genoa against Sampdoria in 2017, but in the 2019-20 season it became a speciality. Injury time goals against Sassuolo, Juventus and especially Cagliari secured vital wins for Lazio. The 98th minute header against Cagliari was epic and gave the Ecuadorian Legend Status. Two more injury time goals in the 2020-21 season against Juventus and Torino allowed him to be the record man in Italian football for goals scored in injury time.
In four years, Caicedo played 105 times in Serie A (28 goals), 8 times in Coppa Italia, 20 games in Europa League with 4 goals, 5 matches in Champions League (1 goal) and one Italian Super Coppa match. He won three trophies: twice the Super Coppa and one Coppa Italia.
After having started the pre season training under Maurizio Sarri, the big Ecuadorian realised it was time to move on. He joined Genoa on the last day of the summer transfer window in the summer of 2021. Plagued by injury in the beginning of the season, he played just 9 matches before being sent to Inter on loan, where he did not leave a mark.
In 2022-23 he played for Abha Club in Saudi Arabia. He now is looking for a team.
Felipe Caicedo was one of the most important players of the Ecuador national team. He played 68 times for his country and scored 22 goals. He quit when the Ecuadorian Federation sacked Manager Gustavo Quinteros. Caicedo participated in the Copa America 2007 and 2011 (with two goals against Brazil) as well as the 2014 World Cup
Caicedone is one of the most loved players in recent times, a favourite for the fans who do not stop sending him their love via social media even if he does not play for Lazio anymore.
Lazio Career
Season | Total games (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions League | Europa League | Super Coppa |
2017-18 | 33 (6) | 22 (3) | 2 | - | 9 (3) | - |
2018-19 | 38 (9) | 28 (8) | 5 | - | 5 (1) | - |
2019-20 | 38 (9) | 30 (9) | 1 | - | 6 | 1 |
2020-21 | 30 (9) | 25 (8) | - | 5 (1) | - | - |
Totals | 139 (33) | 105 (28) | 8 | 5 (1) | 20 (4) | 1 |
Sources
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