A draw on the first Olympia flight
Lazio manage to equalise thanks to Floccari as fans meet Olympia for the first time
Also on this day: September 22, 2004: Brescia Lazio 0-2. Rocchi scores and is sent off, but Lazio resist and bring home the three points. Lazio Hero of the day: Fernando Couto
The season so far
The summer transfer window had seen Lazio as one the protagonists with the signing of Brazilian star Hernanes. A midfielder who can use both feet, he was one of the most important and expensive signings of the Claudio Lotito presidency. Other signings included Javier Garrido (Manchester City), Mark Bresciano (free transfer), Alvaro Gonalez (Nacional) and the return of Libor Kozak from his loan to Brescia.
Leaving Lazio were Aleksandar Kolarov (Manchester City), Emilson Cribari (Napoli) and Stephen Makinwa (loan to Larissa). Julio Cruz, Simone Inzaghi and Sebastiano Siviglia had all retired, Ousmane Dabo, Roberto Baronio and Thomas Hitzlsperger had not had their contracts renewed.
After losing the first game to Sampdoria, Lazio had beaten Bologna at home and Fiorentina away.
The match: Wednesday, September 22, 2010, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Lazio’s mascot eagle, Olympia, for the first time did her show before the match much to the amazement of the fans.
Milan started well and in the 7th minute Zlatan Ibrahimovic managed to beat Lazio’s off side attempt and raced towards Fernando Muslera but his shot was parried. Ibra tried again in the 18th after an Andrea Pirlo free kick but Muslera saved again.
In the 27th minute it was Hernanes who tried on a free kick but Abbiati saved and four minutes later he tried another shot which was only just wide. Stefano Mauri also had a chance a few minutes later but again the Milan goalkeeper managed to save.
In the second half Milan put their foot on the accelerator and Ronaldinho tried a shot that went wide. Sergio Floccari tried to shoot from far out in the 56th minute but Abbiati had no problem in saving. In the 68th minute Clarence Seedorf found the gap in the Lazio defence for Ibra who beat Muslera putting Milan in the lead.
Lazio pulled their socks up and started to attack more consistently. In the 81st minute Hernanes dribbled through the Milan defence and put a splendid ball inside the box which Floccari put in the back of the net.
The fireworks were not over. In the 87th minute a Pirlo corner was cleared by the Lazio defence, the ball arrived to Gianluca Zambrotta who gave it a big whack and hit the crossbar. Immediately after, Hernanes tried a shot from outside the box, Abbiati managed to get a fingernail to it and saved into corner. In the last second, Ronaldinho on the left crossed into the box, Kevin Boateng tried a volley which Stefan Radu managed to deflect into corner.
A well-deserved draw for Lazio against a much stronger team
Who played for Lazio
Muslera, Cavanda (87’ Lichtsteiner), Biava, Dias, Radu, Brocchi, Ledesma, Foggia (74’ Rocchi), Hernanes, Mauri (78’ Zarate), Floccari
Manager: Reja
Who played for Milan
Abbiati, Abate (83' Antonini), Nesta, T. Silva, Zambrotta, Gattuso (69' Flamini), Pirlo, Seedorf (87' Robinho), Boateng, Ibrahimovic, Ronaldinho
Substitutes: Amelia, Yepes, Papastathopoulos, F. Inzaghi
Manager: Allegri
Referee: Banti
Goals: 66' Ibrahimovic, 81' Floccari
What happened next
After the draw against Milan, Lazio won five consecutive games and were top with a 4-point lead. The extremely controversial loss against Roma, with at least one penalty not given to Lazio, and the bad defeat against Cesena then dampened enthusiasm. But then the Biancocelesti beat Napoli and later on also Inter. At the end of the first half of the season Lazio were third. They then dropped a place but stayed fourth for most of the second half of the season but the decisive defeat at Udine (with Mauro Zarate missing a penalty with Udinese down to 10 men) meant that Lazio were out of the top four places, hence missing out on Champions League qualification.
The season had been good but there had been too many matches that should have been won that were lost or drawn (Cesena away, Lecce at home, Cagliari away are just some examples) to be able to reach the Champions League qualification.
In Coppa Italia Lazio went out against Roma in the fourth round.
Hernanes was the player with the most appearances (36 in Serie A and one in Coppa Italia) and with the most goals (11 in Serie A and one in Coppa Italia).
Lazio 2010-11
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals Scored |
Serie A | 38 | 20 | 6 | 12 | 55 |
Coppa Italia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
Total | 40 | 22 | 6 | 13 | 62 |
Top Five Appearances
Player | Total Appearances | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Hernanes | 37 | 36 | 1 |
Biava | 36 | 35 | 1 |
Muslera | 36 | 36 | 0 |
Zarate | 36 | 35 | 1 |
Ledesma | 35 | 34 | 1 |
Lichtsteiner | 35 | 34 | 1 |
Top Five Goal Scorers
Player | Total Goals | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Hernanes | 12 | 11 | 1 |
Zarate | 9 | 9 | 0 |
Floccari | 8 | 8 | 0 |
Kozak | 7 | 6 | 1 |
Mauri | 6 | 6 | 0 |
Let's talk about Andrea Pirlo
Andrea Pirlo was one of the best midfield players in the world and probably one of the most successful.
The list of trophies is long:
Scudetto: 2003-04, 2010-11 (with Milan), 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 (with Juventus)
Coppa Italia: 2002-03 (Milan), 2014-15 (Juventus)
Champions League: 2002-03, 2006-07 (Milan)
UEFA Super Cup: 2003, 2007 (Milan)
FIFA Club World Cup: 2007 (Milan)
Super Coppa: 2004 (Milan)
World Cup: 2006
European Under-21 Championship: 2000
Olympic Games: Bronze 2004
Serie B: 1996-97
He was born on May 19, 1979, in Flero near Brescia. He began playing in the Brescia youth sector and debuted in the first team in 1996-97 under Edy Reja contributing to the Rondinelle’s promotion with 17 appearances and two goals. He then played his first season in Serie A but Brescia were relegated.
In 1998 he signed for Inter and made 32 appearances that year. The next season he was loaned to Reggina and did so well that he went back to the Nerazzurri for the 2000-01 season. But he got very little playing time so he was loaned to Brescia in January. In the summer Inter sold him to Milan (and they have been kicking themselves ever since) and this is where he blossomed and became a world class player. In ten years, he made 401 appearances with 41 goals, winning everything possible.
In 2011 Milan thought that he was too old to continue playing with that quality and did not renew his contract. Mistake. He signed for Juventus and continued to win everything possible. In four years, he made 164 appearances with 19 goals.
Before retiring he spent three years playing for New York City making 62 appearances with one goal. In November 2017 he retired.
With Italy he played 116 games with 13 goals, winning a World Cup in 2006, scoring a goal in the opening match against Ghana and the first penalty in the final shootout. He played in the 2010 and 2014 World Cups. He also holds 9 caps and one goal for the Olympic team and 37 games with 15 goals with the Under-21's.
After he retired, he became a manager. He was surprisingly chosen by Juventus as head coach in 2020-21, in place of Maurizio Sarri, the Bianconeri did not do too well but they did win the Supercoppa and Coppa Italia. He was not confirmed. In June 2022 he signed for Fatih Karagümrük in the Turkish Super League but quit three games from the end of the season. In June 2023 he became manager for Sampdoria in Serie B. The Genoese finished 7th and qualified for the playoffs where they were eliminated by Palermo. He however was confirmed also for the 2024-25 season but after three games he was sacked.
Often seen as a new Gianni Rivera, when he started playing he was a number 10, but then Carlo Mazzone had the brilliant idea of placing him in front of defence and this is where he built his career. He was a free-kick specialist and is the second player with most goals scored on free kicks in the history of Serie A (26), behind Sinisa Mihajlovic.
A fantastic player. A privilege to have seen him play.
Sources
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