Strakoshaaaaaaaa!!!!!!
Strakosha saves a last gasp penalty and Lazio beat Juve away
The season so far
The summer transfer window had seen the arrivals of Adam Marusic, Felipe Caicedo, Liverpool legend Lucas Leiva and Manchester United legend Nani. Goodbye Wesley Hoedt, Lucas Biglia and Keita Balde.
The season kicked off to a good start. Lazio managed to beat Juventus 3-2 in the Italian Super Cup with a goal in the dying seconds from youngster Alessandro Murgia. Doubles from Ciro Immobile and Paolo Dybala had made the game 2-2.
In Campionato, despite a goalless draw at home against Spal in the opening game, Lazio were doing quite well. They had won 5 games out of seven and were currently 4th.
The match: Saturday, October 14, 2017, Juventus Stadium, Turin
A very slow start from both teams and the only thing that happened in the first 20 minutes was a lame shot over the bar from Blaise Matuidi in the 12th. Lazio seemed to control defensively but were never dangerous, Juventus tried to put more pressure but were inoffensive.
Then, suddenly, Juve scored. In the 23rd minute Kwadwo Asamoah crossed from the left, Sami Khedira volleyed towards the goal, Thomas Strakosha managed to parry but in came Douglas Costa who acrobatically scored. He seemed to be in clear offside but after a two-minute VAR check, the goal was given.
At this point the Bianconeri took control and Khedira had a chance in the 36th minute with a shot from outside the box, parried by Strakosha into corner. Two minutes later Lucas Leiva passed the ball back to the Albanian keeper who controlled it badly and tried to kick it away but he hit Gonzalo Higuain. Ball onto the crossbar and back into the keeper’s hands. Big risk for Lazio.
In the 47th minute Lazio equalised. Leiva to Ciro Immobile in the Juve half, ball back to Sergej Milinkovic-Savic who saw Luis Alberto run forward into the gap. Quick pass, the Magician saw Immobile running into the box, ball to the King who with a low clinical shot beat Gianluigi Buffon.
Immediately after a Higuain-Mario Mandzukic one-two, Gonzalo was alone in front of Strakosha but the Lazio keeper managed to parry.
Lazio, full of enthusiasm following their goal, went for the kill and in the 52nd minute Milinkovic-Savic gave a splendid ball to Immobile who in front of Gianluigi Buffon was fouled. Penalty to Lazio which Ciro did not miss.
Juventus started to pile more and more pressure on the Lazio defence while on the counter attack the Biancocelesti could have scored again with Milinkovic-Savic but his shot was too lame. In the 91st minute a splendid volley from outside the box by Dybala, Strakosha was saved by the woodwork. Two minutes later Milinkovic-Savic to Felipe Caicedo all alone in front of Buffon but he could not get a decent impact with the ball and the keeper parried. In the 96th minute Patric did not control a ball which was in the box and it slid away. The Spaniard and Federico Bernardeschi both went for it and both hit it. The referee did not see a foul but VAR did and a penalty was given. Dybala stepped up, took the shot but Strakosha saved!!! Game over!!! A remarkable win!!!
Who played for Juventus
Buffon, Lichtsteiner (73' Sturaro), Barzagli, Chiellini, Asamoah, Khedira (64' Dybala), Bentancur, Matuidi, Douglas Costa (55' Bernardeschi), Higuain, Mandzukic
Substitutes: Szczęsny, Pinsoglio, Benatia, Barzagli, Asamoah, Cuadrado
Manager: Allegri
Who played for Lazio
Strakosha, Bastos, de Vrij, Radu, Marusic, Parolo, Leiva, Milinkovic-Savic, Lulic (84’ Patric), Luis Alberto (72’ Nani), Immobile (75’ Caicedo)
Substitutes: Vargic, Guerrieri, Luiz Felipe, Mauricio, Murgia, Di Gennaro, Jordao
Manager: Inzaghi
Referee. Mazzoleni
Goals: 25’ Douglas Costa, 47’ Immobile, 54’ Immobile (pen)
What happened next
This was the first season with the introduction of the VAR, the video assistant referee, which should have brought fewer mistakes from the men in black. Should, because starting from the derby in November, Lazio were certainly not helped by the new system. The Roma penalty was very dubious (Lazio lost), the penalty given to Fiorentina the next game was non-existent (and Lazio drew), the penalty not given to Lazio against Torino was massive and the Immobile sending off ridiculous (Lazio lost). The limit was reached against Milan in January. Milan’s first goal was blatantly scored with a hand but nobody noticed. All this cost Lazio many points which could have allowed them to be much higher up the table.
At the end of the first half of the season Lazio were 4th. They stayed fourth for a while and even reached 3rd at the end of February but it lasted just one game as they lost at home against Juventus in injury time. In mid-March they slipped to fifth but again moved up to third in early April and stayed there until three games to the end of the season. The first four qualified for the Champions League. They were tied with Roma and had a four-point lead over Inter.
But with Immobile injured they drew the first game at home and Inter reduced the deficit to two points. In the penultimate game Lazio had to win against struggling Crotone but only managed to draw. So did Inter, so the final game at the Olimpico against the Nerazzurri was decisive.
With 12 minutes to go Lazio were winning 2-1, but Inter managed to score two goals in 4 minutes and Lazio had to settle for Europa League. A big blow.
Lazio 2017-18
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals scored |
Serie A | 38 | 21 | 9 | 8 | 89 |
Coppa Italia | 4 | 2 | 2 | - | 5 |
Europa League | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 26 |
Super Coppa | 1 | 1 | - | - | 3 |
Total | 55 | 31 | 13 | 11 | 123 |
Top five appearances
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Europa League | Super Coppa |
Strakosha | 53 | 38 | 4 | 10 | 1 |
Leiva | 50 | 36 | 4 | 9 | 1 |
Lulic | 50 | 35 | 4 | 10 | 1 |
Milinkovic-Savic | 48 | 35 | 4 | 8 | 1 |
de Vrij | 47 | 36 | 3 | 7 | 1 |
Immobile | 47 | 33 | 4 | 9 | 2 |
Luis Alberto | 47 | 34 | 3 | 9 | 1 |
Top five goal scorers
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Europa League | Super Coppa |
Immobile | 41 | 29 | 2 | 8 | 2 |
Milinkovic-Savic | 14 | 12 | - | 2 | - |
Luis Alberto | 12 | 11 | - | 1 | - |
Felipe Anderson | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | - |
de Vrij | 7 | 6 | - | 1 | - |
Let's talk about Ciro Immobile
Numbers talk:
Player who has scored most goals for Lazio in all official competitions
Player who has scored most goals for Lazio in Serie A
Player who has scored most goals for Lazio in UEFA Cup/Europa League
Player who has scored most goals for Lazio in UEFA competitions
Lazio player, along with Beppe Signori, who has been Serie A top scorer most times
One of three players to have won the trophy for top Serie A scorer with two different teams (the others being Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Luca Toni)
Player, together with Gonzalo Higuain, to have scored most goals in a season in Serie A
First Italian Serie A player to have scored at least 25 league goals three times. The other two were foreigners Gunnar Nordhal and Istvan Nyers
Player in activity with most goals scored in Serie A
We could stop here, but there is a bio to write.
Ciro Immobile was born in Torre Annunziata near Naples on February 20 1990. He started his career in the youth teams of Salernitana but he did not stand out. He then moved to play for Sorrento and scored 30 goals in the Allievi (14-16 year olds). Juventus set their eyes on him and at 17 he joined the Bianconeri. Juve won the prestigious Viareggio Tournament in 2009 thanks to an Immobile double in the final. He debuted in Serie A on March 14 2009 coming on for Alessandro Del Piero in injury time towards the end of Juventus Bologna 4-1. Later on in the year, in November, he also debuted in the Champions League against Bordeaux. He would end up with four appearances that season in all competitions.
In July 2010 he signed for Siena in Serie B on loan but he did not play much so in January he moved to Grosseto where he played a little more but only scored one goal. The big life changer for Ciro took place in the summer of 2011 when he signed for Pescara, again on loan. Together with future greats Marco Verratti and Lorenzo Insigne, and under the guidance of Zdenek Zeman, they took Pescara back to Serie A and won the championship. Immobile was Serie B top scorer with 28 goals.
In the summer of 2012 Genoa bought half of Immobile and Ciro moved to Liguria. Not a good season for him: 34 league appearances but only 5 goals. At the end of the campionato, Juventus re-acquired the other half and sold it to Torino. Together with his attacking partner Alessio Cerci and under the guidance of Gian Piero Ventura, Torino reached a Europa League qualification and Immobile scored 22 goals, top Serie A scorer.
Torino purchased the other half of Immobile and sold him to Borussia Dortmund. He played 34 games with 10 goals (4 in Champions League) in a difficult season for the Germans. He also had a few problems getting used to the new way of life. In the summer of 2015 he was loaned to Sevilla but in six months he played just 15 games (four goals) and had problems with the manager. For the remaining part of the season he was loaned back to Torino but did not leave a significant mark.
In July 2016 he signed for Lazio. On a personal note, I had wanted this to happen since Ciro’s Pescara days. He may not be pretty to watch but he has the gift of often being in the right place at the right time and scores goals. He just had to find the right kind of environment and club which could allow him to express himself at his best. Lazio was the right club and Ciro Immobile became King. With the Biancocelesti he won a Coppa Italia (2018-19) and two Super Coppas (2017 and 2019), scoring with amazing consistency. Ciro scored in every possible way: headers, volleys, shots from outside the box, left or right foot. There were only a couple of years in which he did not score more than 20 goals and that was due to injuries. In 2020 Immobile won the Golden Boot, an award given each season to the leading goal scorer in league matches from the top divisions of the European national leagues.
In the last couple of seasons his striking rate decreased. He missed a lot of games in 2022-23 due to injury and struggled in 2023-24 to find form and consistency. But one has to point out that in the last season the Biancocelesti had a hard time creating chances and this did not help.
In July 2024 he received a good offer from Beşiktaş and, after speaking with the club, decided to accept. He left Lazio after eight years in the same year that Luis Alberto and Felipe Anderson also left, a year after Sergej Milinkovic-Savic decided to go to Saudi Arabia. The end of an era at Lazio.
Immobile has also been very useful for the Nazionale though he has not scored as much. But, as most Lazio fans know, the whole game must revolve around Ciro for him to be effective. Even Maurizio Sarri re-adapted his tactics to exploit this goal-scoring machine. This has never happened in Nazionale. Despite this, Ciro has scored 15 goals for Italy and won a European Championship. He is also the media’s favourite scapegoat for whenever something goes wrong, just like Giorgio Chinaglia was back in the 1970s. He has 57 caps with Italy and 17 goals.
For Lazio fans he will always be our captain, our champion and our King and will stay in our hearts forever.
Lazio Career
Season | Total games (Goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions League | Europa League | Conference League | Super Coppa |
2016-17 | 41 (26) | 36 (23) | 5 (3) | - | - | | - |
2017-18 | 47 (41) | 33 (29) | 4 (2) | - | 9 (8) | | 1 (2) |
2018-19 | 46 (19) | 36 (15) | 5 (3) | - | 5 (1) | | - |
2019-20 | 44 (39) | 37 (36) | 2 (1) | - | 4 (2) | | 1 |
2020-21 | 41 (25) | 35 (20) | 1 | 5 (5) | - | | - |
2021-22 | 40 (32) | 31 (27) | 2 (1) | - | 7 (4) | | - |
2022-23 | 38 (14) | 31 (12) | 1 | - | 4 (1) | 2 (1) | - |
2023-24 | 43 (11) | 31 (7) | 3 | 8 (4) | - | - | 1 |
Total | 340 (207) | 270 (169) | 23 (10) | 13 (9) | 29 (16) | 2 (1) | 3 (2) |
Sources
Wikipedia
Comments