Three forwards' power
The three forwards all score goals as Lazio annihilate Cagliari
Also on this day: October 26, 2003: Lazio Bologna 2-1. Heaven, hell and heaven again in the last ten minutes. Player of the day: Bernardo Corradi
The season so far
The previous season Lazio had not done well. They lost the Champions League preliminary round against Bayer Leverkusen and never quite got to grips with the disappointment. Manager Stefano Pioli, who had done so well in 2014-15, showed signs of confusion and was unable to stimulate the players. He was sacked with seven games to go and replaced by Simone Inzaghi, former star of the 2000 scudetto team and manager of the primavera. He did not do too badly in those seven games, but Lazio did not qualify for any European Cup.
President Claudio Lotito and sporting director Igli Tare then had the idea to sign Marcelo Bielsa as new manager. El Loco signed the contract and two days later resigned, citing differences with Tare and Lotito over the summer transfers as the reason. Apparently, rumour has it that once the news of him coaching Lazio started to spread, he got some calls from friends in Rome who were convincing enough to make him change his mind.
The Biancocelesti were without a coach and needed one quickly, so Simone Inzaghi, who was about to sign for Salernitana, was chosen.
The good news was that a new Lazio star was born: Ciro Immobile, who arrived from Sevilla in the summer, was scoring regularly and had become a fundamental asset. Also debuting in the first team was goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha who substituted an injured Federico Marchetti. Keita Balde was also having a very good season and scoring.
Other new entries included defenders Bastos (Rostov), Jordan Lukaku (Oostende), Wallace (Braga) and midfielder Luís Alberto (Liverpool). Leaving Lazio were Etrit Berisha (Atalanta - on loan), defenders Edson Braafheid (end of contract), Santiago Gentiletti (Genoa), Abdoulay Konko (end of contract), Mauricio (Spartak Moscow - on loan), midfielders Antonio Candreva (Inter), Ogenyi "Eddy" Onazi (Trabzonspor), Stefano Mauri (end of contract) and striker Miroslav Klose (retired).
So far Lazio had done reasonably well and were fifth.
The match: Wednesday, October 26, 2016, Rome, Stadio Olimpico
Cagliari started well and in the 4th minute had a chance with Nicola Murru thanks to a Nicolò Barella assist but his shot from the left side of the penalty box was parried by Federico Marchetti. Three minutes later Lazio went ahead. Quick counter attack three against two, Senad Lulic on the left sent in a perfect assist for Keita Balde who acrobatically domesticated the ball and from a difficult angle beat Marco Storari.
After a couple of chances for Lazio and a probable penalty, in the 18th minute there was a long pass to Marco Borriello who beat Wallace for speed and saw that Marchetti was dangerously coming forward. The Cagliari forward tried a shot with the Biancoceleste keeper way out of his goal, but the ball shaved the far post. 120 seconds later, Borriello made a perfect pass for Federico Melchiorri who shot over the crossbar from a favourable position. Another two minutes and it was a penalty for Lazio. Ciro Immobile on the far right of the box was fouled by Luca Ceppitelli and the ref had a simple decision to make. King Ciro made no mistake.
In the 28th minute Barella tried to pass the ball back to Storari but he hit Simone Padoin, opening the gates for Immobile who went into the box and scored his brace.
The game slowed down a little bit. Lazio had a few half chances for their fourth but after the intensity of the first 30 minutes both teams took breathers.
In the second half Felipe Anderson immediately lobbed a ball over the Cagliari defence, Immobile tried a shot, well saved by Storari. In the 56th minute Melchiorri and Keita went shoulder to shoulder as they entered the box, the Cagliari player collapsed to the ground and the referee gave the Islanders a penalty. Borriello angled his shot too much and the ball went out. Two minutes later Panagiotis Tachtsidis took a corner, Daniele Dessena all alone in the box headed the ball towards the far corner but Marchetti managed to parry quite miraculously.
In the 79th minute Felipe Anderson received the ball on the edge of the box, dummied a shot, dribbled four players and scored. A remarkable goal!!!
Three minutes from time there was a corner for Cagliari. Marco Capuano headed the ball towards the goal, deflection from Wallace and Cagliari got their consolation goal.
Good win for Lazio.
Who played for Lazio
Marchetti, Patric, Wallace, Hoedt, Radu, Parolo (66’ Murgia), Cataldi, Lulic (82’ Leitner), Felipe Anderson, Immobile (72’ Lombardi), Keita
Substitutes: Strakosha, Vargic, Basta, Prce, Vinicius, Milinkovic-Savic, Kishna, Luis Alberto, Djordjevic
Manager: Inzaghi
Who played for Cagliari
Storari, Bittante, Ceppitelli, Bruno Alves, Murru (68' Capuano), Isla (55' Dessena), Tachtsidis, Padoin, Barella; Melchiorri, Borriello (75' Giannetti)
Substitutes: Rafael, Colombo, Pisacane, Munari, Salamon, Di Gennaro, Sau
Manager: Rastelli
Referee: Celi
Goals: 7’ Keita, 23’ Immobile (pen), 28’ Immobile, 79’ Felipe Anderson, 87’ Capuano
What happened next
Back into Europe was the objective for the 2016-2017 season and back into Europe it would be, thanks to a good fifth place. It could have been fourth place but the team threw in the towel once European football was secured. After beating Sampdoria 7-3, they lost the last three games.
In Coppa Italia they did very well reaching the final. They beat Genoa, Inter away, Roma winning 2-0 at home and losing 3-2 away. But in the final they lost to Juventus 2-0.
Immobile was the leading scorer for Serie A with 23 goals, his second win, first with Lazio.
This was the last season for Biglia and Keita with Lazio. In the following years neither would repeat the standards reached with Lazio.
Lazio 2016-17
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals Scored |
Serie A | 38 | 21 | 7 | 10 | 74 |
Coppa Italia | 5 | 3 | - | 2 | 10 |
Total | 43 | 24 | 7 | 12 | 84 |
Top five appearances
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Felipe Anderson | 41 | 36 | 5 |
Immobile | 41 | 36 | 5 |
Milinkovic-Savic | 39 | 34 | 5 |
Parolo | 38 | 34 | 4 |
Lulic | 35 | 31 | 4 |
Top five goal scorers
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Immobile | 26 | 23 | 3 |
Keita Balde | 16 | 16 | - |
Milinkovic-Savic | 7 | 4 | 3 |
Felipe Anderson | 5 | 4 | 1 |
Parolo | 5 | 5 | - |
Biglia | 5 | 4 | 1 |
Let’s talk about: Moritz Leitner
Moritz Leitner was born in Munich on December 8, 1992. He started playing football in the youth teams of Unterföhring in 1995, but three years later moved to 1860 Munich and debuted professionally on August 14 2010 in the German Cup. He made 18 appearances in the second tier and after six months he signed for Borussia Dortmund who immediately loaned him to Augsburg for the rest of the season. Back in Dortmund he played for two years and in the first won the double, championship and cup. He made 54 appearances.
In 2013 he was loaned to Stuttgart for two years and played 44 games with 2 goals. He went back to Dortmund for another season but found limited playing time making just 13 appearances.
In 2016 he joined Lazio. This was another attempt by sporting director Igli Tare to find players who had shown promise in their youth but then had not fulfilled the expectations. The gamble did not pay off. Leitner made just two appearances in six months, coming off from the bench, and in January he was sold to Augsburg. In 12 months he played just six games due to injury and in January 2018 he moved across the channel to play for Norwich City in the Championship on loan. After six months the move was made permanent and he contributed in helping the Canaries back to the Premiership. He then fell out of favour and played very little. Norwich City were relegated, he stayed on but made no appearances in 2020-21. In August 2021 he signed for Zurich for a year but again played very little, just 9 games, and his contract was not renewed. He has not played since.
Leitner has a number of caps with the German under 19s, under 20s and under 21s and with the latter participated in the European Championship where Germany arrived third. He even had a cap with the Austrian under 17s before he got his German citizenship.
With Lazio he was a disappointment not making any impact at all.
Lazio Career
Season | Serie A Appearances |
2016-17 | 2 |
Sources
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