Pedrooooooooooo!!!!!
A last second Pedro goal allows the Biancocelesti to win their first away game in Champions League for twenty years
Also on this day: October 4, 1981: Lazio Foggia 4-1. A D’Amico hat trick gives a vital victory to the Biancocelesti. Player of the day: Stefano Ferretti
The season so far
The previous season Lazio had arrived second and qualified for the Champions League group phase. A good season, many ups and a few downs, but all in all fans were obviously satisfied.
It was going to be the final year with the Biancocelesti for Sergej Milinikovic-Savic. In July 2023, he signed for Al-Hilal, a Saudi Arabian club based in Riyadh. Apparently, President Claudio Lotito offered him a lot of money to stay, but the Saudi club offered him a salary that will allow his family to live comfortably for generations. Difficult to say no.
Also leaving were Luca Romero (end of contract), Matteo Cancellieri (loan to Empoli), Luis Maximiano (loan with option to buy to Almeria) and Stefan Radu who had retired. The new arrivals were goalkeepers Christos Mandas (OFI Crete), Luca Sepe (Salernitana – loan), midfielders Daichi Kamada (free agent), Nicolò Rovella (Juventus), Matteo Guendouzi (Olympique Marseille), and forwards Taty Castellanos (Girona) and Gustav Isaksen (Midtjylland).
In Serie A, Lazio were struggling. They lost the first two games of the season but then came back to beat Champions Napoli only to lose the next game against Juventus, though not without controversy. They then drew at home with Monza, beat Torino and lost against Milan the previous weekend. They were currently 16th!!!
In the Champions League the Biancocelesti had played one game so far. And what a game it was. Losing against Atletico Madrid, they managed to equalise with a goal in the dying seconds of the match with goalkeeper Ivan Provedel, a truly remarkable feat.
Today was the second game of the group phase.
The match: Wednesday, October 4, 2023, Celtic Park, Glasgow
Maurizio Sarri made a number of changes compared to the previous game in Milan. In came Patric in defence, Manuel Lazzari as right back, Matias Vecino as playmaker, Daichi Kamada regained his place and Ciro Immobile was also back.
As Sarri mentioned in presenting this game, Celtic were not a physical team. They were rather “un-British” in their approach, control of the ball and lots of passes. So, Lazio had to be careful not to make mistakes. But they did immediately. In the 12th minute Daizen Maeda to Matt O’Riley to Kyogo Furuhashi who caught Alessio Romagnoli out of position and allowed the Japanese to present himself in front of Ivan Provedel and score.
It could have been two four minutes later. With a bit of luck Maeda managed to get hold of a stray ball, went into the box but he angled his shot too much and it went wide.
Lazio gradually showed a little more courage but had trouble creating chances. Since the beginning of the season the last pass was the one of the things in which they made most mistakes and tonight was no exception. But at least there was more pressing and they were trying to make it difficult for the Scots.
In the 29th minute, corner for Lazio Luis Alberto took it, Vecino tried to make an impact but failed. The ball however went up in the air. Romagnoli headed it towards the goal, on its way Vecino gave it another header and neither Joe Hart nor Alistair Johnston were able to clear. Celtic 1 Lazio 1.
The first half ended with an O’Riley shot well saved by Provedel in the 37th minute. A very fast game, “breathless” as defined by the BBC.
In the 50th minute Lazio’s first chance in open play. Kamada to Immobile who saw Felipe Anderson all alone on the right wing. Ball to the Brazilian who once in the box could not decide whether to volley the ball with his left or with his right, did neither and lost both time and the opportunity.
In the 58th minute Reo Hatate was dangerous on a free kick but Provedel made a good save.
In the 62nd minute the start of the substitutions. For Celtic in came Cameron Carter-Vickers, Luis Palma and Paulo Bernardo, out went Nathaniel Philips, Yang Hyun-jun and Reo Hatate. Sarri made three changes: Gustav Isaksen, Matteo Guendouzi and Taty Castellanos for Felipe Anderson, Luis Alberto and Ciro Immobile.
Taking off Luis Alberto meant two things: less quality in the Lazio midfield to create chances and more courage for Celtic who started to press like crazy in the attempt to get the ball off the Biancocelesti.
In the 69th minute Kamada tried a shot from outside the box, well saved by Hart. In the 81st minute Celtic scored. Johnston crossed into the box, Maeda flipped the ball to Palma who faked a shot. Lazzari fell for it and Palma beat Provedel with a shot on the front post. But he was offside.
Sarri sensed that he needed to do something so in came Adam Marusic for a very tired Lazzari and Pedro for Mattia Zaccagni. Brendan Rogers also made his last substitution: out went Furuhashi and in came Oh Hyeon-gyu.
The Biancocelesti were in big trouble but managed to hold steady and avoid any other further dangers. And then …
In the seventh minute of injury time, Pedro managed to interrupt a Celtic play, Castellanos got to the ball and passed to Isaksen who in turn gave it to Guendouzi on the right. Perfect cross to the left and Pedro headed the ball towards the far post, wrong footing Hart. Celtic 1 Lazio 2.
Triumph in difficult circumstances. Lazio had not won away in Champions League since September 16, 2003 in Istanbul. A long wait.
Who played for Celtic
Hart; Johnston, Phillips (62` Carter-Vickers), Scales, Taylor; O`Riley, McGregor, Hatate (71` Bernardo); Maeda, Furuhashi (86` Oh), Yang (62` Palma)
Substitutes: Bain, Morrison, Turnbull, Iwata, Forrest, Ralston, Johnstone
Manager: Rodgers
Who played for Lazio
Provedel; Lazzari (84` Marusic), Patric, Romagnoli, Hysaj; Kamada, Vecino, Luis Alberto (67` Guendouzi); Felipe Anderson (67` Isaksen), Immobile (71` Castellanos), Zaccagni (84` Pedro)
Substitutes: Sepe, Magro, Casale, Gila, Pellegrini, Cataldi, Rovella
Manager: Sarri
Referee: Rumsas (Lithuania)
Goals: 13' Furuhashi, 29' Vecino, 90'+6' Pedro
Bookings: Phillips, Luis Alberto, Castellanos, Vecino
What happened next
Lazio improved and by mid-February they were in 8th place though still quite far off a Champions League qualification. They then lost three consecutive games and Sarri resigned. He was substituted by Igor Tudor and the situation improved but not enough to qualify for top tier European football. The Biancocelesti did however qualify for the Europa League.
In Coppa Italia Lazio did well, eliminating Roma in the quarter finals but succumbed to Juve in the semis 3-2 on aggregate.
In the Champions League the Biancocelesti managed to reach the last 16 where they were eliminated by Bayern Munich 3-1 on aggregate.
The player with most appearances this season was Felipe Anderson who played in every game whilst the top scorer was Immobile with 11 goals (7 in Serie A).
Let’s talk about Daichi Kamada
Daichi Kamada was born in Ehime on August 5, 1996. He started his career in the youth team of Sagan Tosu and debuted in the J. League Cup in April 2015 and in the J1 League on May 10.
In 2017 he signed for Eintracht Frankfurt. He did not play much in his first year, so in his second he was sent on loan to Sint-Truiden in Belgium in the Jupiler Pro League. He did very well, so he was back in Frankfurt for the 2019-20 season. He then appeared in 178 games with 40 goals, winning a national cup in 2017-18 and the Europa League in 2021-22.
At the end of the 2022-23 season his contract expired and he had not renewed it. Lazio were looking for a possible replacement for Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and the Japanese, even though a different player altogether, could theoretically have taken his place. In August he signed a one-year contract with an option for another two years.
One could see immediately that the Japanese needed time to find his place in Maurizio Sarri’s Lazio, but all seemed to be forgotten when he scored his first goal for the Biancocelesti in Naples. Unfortunately, his struggles continued throughout the season. He seemed like a fish out of water, and did not know what to do on the field. Then Sarri resigned in April and Igor Tudor took his place. Kamada came back to life and played very well under the Croatian. In the end he made 38 appearances with two goals.
His contract ended at the end of May and it was hoped that he would trigger the two-year new deal. But he did not. His agents proposed another one-year contract to president Claudio Lotito which he refused. At this point Kamada signed a two-year contract for Crystal Palace in the Premier League, which probably was the game plan all along.
Kamada has played 33 games for Japan with 7 goals. He played in the 2022 World Cup where Japan were eliminated in the round of 16 after having beaten Germany and Spain in the group phase. They lost to Croatia on penalties.
Kamada is a box-to-box midfielder, good sense of position, great shot. It is a pity that his stay at Lazio was so short. But perhaps that was the plan when he signed.
Lazio Career
Season | Total apperances (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions League |
2023-24 | 38 (2) | 29 (2) | 2 | 7 |
Sources
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