Game 20, Serie A
Sunday, February 8, 2004
Stadio Ennio Tardini, Parma
Parma Lazio 0-3
Lazio, way too strong for this Parma, bring home the three points fairly comfortably.
In the Campionato, Lazio were fairly inconsistent. Good start, but then they just seemed to forget how to play some matches and the 3-0 loss at Siena in late November was the prime example. However, when all seemed doom and gloom, Lazio suddenly woke up and beat Juventus 2-0 and Inter 2-1. Recovery? No. As usual for Roberto Mancini teams, January was always the most negative month. Just 4 points in the last season and just four in this one.
Even if January was over it looked as if the jinx was still on after the draw against Sampdoria in the game before this one. Lazio needed three points at Parma.
The match
It only took Lazio six minutes to create the first chance. Stefano Fiore, unmarked, shot wide from a favourable position. Twelve minutes later it should have been a penalty when Antonio Benarrivo brought down Claudio Lopez but the referee was not of the same idea.
The Biancocelesti slowed down for a while but Parma were not in the mood. In the 38th minute, penalty for Lazio. Massimo Oddo took a corner and Fabio Cannavaro "noosed" Bernardo Corradi. Lopez thundered the ball in and Lazio went one up. And it could have been two very shortly after. Stefano Fiore to Luciano Zauri on the right, ball in the middle of the box, Lopez let it pass and it was Fiore again ready for the kill but Sébastien Frey miraculously saved it.
Marco Marchionni had a chance in the 51st minute but his shot from outside the penalty box was just wide. Parma attacked, but this allowed Lazio to exploit the large open spaces in their defence and midfield. In the 54th minute Lopez flew towards the Parma box, Frey came out to stop the Lazio forward, the Argentine lobbed over the Frenchman but the ball bounced and went over the goal.
Three minutes later, Oddo made a long pass forward to Fiore on the right, back heel to Corradi in the centre just outside the box, ball to Lopez in the box on the left, 2-0. Eight minutes later another wonderful pass from Fiore allowed Lopez to run down the left in complete solitude, cross to the centre of the box and Corradi had a comfortable header for the 3-0.
Lazio could have made it four in almost exactly the same way: Fiore to Lopez, low cross in the middle for Corradi but Frey saved. Not to worry, Lazio had already brought back the prosciutto.
Who played for Parma
Frey, Benarrivo (63' Potenza), Castellini, Cannavaro, Seric, Barone, Bresciano, Marchionni, Morfeo (46' Cammarata), Carbone (63' Degano), Gilardino
Substitutes: Amelia, Camara, Rosina, Zicu
Manager: Prandelli
Who played for Lazio
Peruzzi, Oddo, Stam, Couto, Favalli, Fiore, Dabo (46’ Albertini), Liverani (58’ Giannichedda), Zauri, Corradi (71’ S. Inzaghi), Lopez
Substitutes: Sereni, Cesar, Mihajlovic, Muzzi
Manager: Mancini
Referee: Dattilo
Goals: 40’ Lopez (pen), 57’ Lopez, 65 Corradi
Sources
Comments