Game 6, Serie A
September 29, 2024
Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, Turin
Torino Lazio 2-3
An excellent Lazio topple league leaders with deserved win
The team
Lazio came from a Thursday evening game in Hamburg where they had well beaten Dynamo Kiev 3-0. Satisfying but also energy sapping.
Fortunately some of Lazio's main players such as Mattia Zaccagni, Taty Castellanos and Mario Gila had only played part of the second half and others such as Matteo Guendouzi and Manuel Lazzari had not featured at all.
Today for this unpopular 12.30 lunchtime kick off slot the team looked more like the one that had been controversially beaten by a last minute penalty in Florence a week earlier.
The changes were central defender Alessio Romagnoli in for Patric, Nicolò Rovella for Gaetano Castrovilli in midfield and Taty Castellanos for Tijani Noslin up front.
Torino had squad members Emirhan Ilkhan and Perr Schuurs out injured but basically fielded their best team although they surprisingly had Alberto Paleari in goal rather than Vanja Milinkovic-Savic who had felt a twinge in the warm-up and was for precaution placed on the bench.
A difficult game today for Lazio against high flying Torino who, coming into the week-end fixtures, were unexpectedly league leaders with 11 points, against Lazio's 7. City rivals Juventus had then played the day before and overtaken them but a win today would restore Toro's leadership.
The match
A glorious, sunny day in Turin and perfect for a game of football. There was not the full house announced but a good crowd.
The encounter started with a series of crosses into the area by both sides but came alive in the 8th minute. There was some confusion in the left midfield with Mattia Zacacagni contending a ball with a couple of Granata players when Nuno Tavares took control of the situation and burst forward, he reached the left side of the area and squared a ball back into the middle where Matteo Guendouzi raced in and from just inside the area sent a low central shot that went through Adam Masina's legs and beat Alberto Paleari, who only saw the ball at the last moment. Torino 0 Lazio 1.
Torino failed to have much of a reaction. They had more possession but were unable to create anything remotely dangerous.
Lazio controlled Toro well and threatened on the break. In the 26th minute Tavares' shot was nearer the Alps than the goal and in the 32nd Taty Castellanos' header was well wide.
After a Borja Sosa shot in the 39th minute, comfortably blocked by Ivan Provedel, Torino's only real chance came in the 41st minute when Ivan Ilić had a powerful left footed volley acrobatically saved by Provedel and on the subsequent cross he dived low to block a central Duván Zapata header.
Lazio then had the last opportunity but a Boulaye Dia low effort was blocked by Paleari. Halftime Torino 0 Lazio 1.
Lazio the better team so far and Torino not looking like top of the table material.
For the second half manager Paolo Vanoli made two changes; Norwegian defender Marcus Holmgren Pedersen for Croatian Borna Sosa and Scottish forward Ché Adams for French midfielder Adrien Tameze. Marco Baroni was satisfied with what he had seen and stuck with the same XI.
In the early stages Torino continued to have more of the ball but, apart from an Adams shot way off target, they still had difficulty creating chances.
Lazio looked sharper and in the 49th minute Castellanos had a dangerous and powerful shot but Paleari was safe. On the subsequent corner Castellanos' header got bogged down in the crowded area but fell to Alessio Romagnoli whose extremely close range shot was saved by Paleari. In the 50th minute Tavares again fired well over the bar.
In the 54th minute Torino's Paraguayan striker Antonio Sanabria was booked but it was a filthy foul on Guendouzi and he was lucky not to be off.
In the 57th minute Adams tried his luck from the long range but Provedel saved without any sweat.
In the 60th minute Lazio doubled their lead with a great team move. Gustav Isaksen ran at the defence from the right, beat Valentino Lazaro and from the byline stubbed a pass back across the area, Zaccagni dummied, Catellanos dummied, Guendouzi dummied and the ball reached Dia who stopped the ball and drilled a low right foot in near the right post. Torino 0 Lazio 2.
At this point Vanoli made a double substitution, off went a poor Lazaro and a booked Sanabria and on came two forwards, Swedish Alieu Njie and Croatian Nikola Vlašić.
Five minutes later Lazio could and should have closed it. Castellanos, put through by Guendouzi, had only the keeper to beat but did not angle his low shot enough and then on the rebound Isaksen, caught off balance by the high bounce, volleyed several metres over the bar.
Goal missed, goal conceded as they say in Italy. In the 67th minute Ché Adams pulled one back for Toro. Ilić made a good run to the edge of the left side of the area before passing to Vlašić who then teed up Adams further across to the right but still pretty central, the former Southampton forward, with his back to the goal, did well to control, turn and then send a low shot past several defenders and in on the far post. Torino 1 Lazio 2.
Now Baroni made three changes; he took off Tavares, Isaksen and Dia and put on Luca Pellegrini, Matías Vecino and Loum Tchaouna. A more prudent line-up for an expected Torino forcing which however never really came.
Torino were not transformed by their goal but rather continued with the same somewhat slow and predictable attacks.
From the 74th minute onwards they had to do without their manager as Vanoli was first booked for protesting and then sent off for insisting.
In the 78th minute from behind the scenes Vanoli ordered for Kosovar Mërgim Vojvoda to come off and Chilean Guillermo Maripán to take the field. Two minutes later Baroni responded by replacing Manuel Lazzari with Adam Marušić.
Torino had a couple of corners and an Adams attempt off target but never really looked like scoring.
In the 89th minute Lazio made their fifth and last change, striker for striker with Tajin Noslin coming on for Castellanos.
Noslin, just like in Hamburg a few days earlier, took less than a minute to be noticed but this time for positive reasons. In the 89th minute Pellegrini crossed low into the area from the left, the Torino defenders hesitated and Vecino managed to toe the ball to Noslin who got between them and had no problem scoring from close range. Redemption for the Dutchman and Torino 1 Lazio 3.
The game seemed over but in the second minute of the four minutes of injury time the game took another twist. In the 92nd minute Saúl Coco, from a Masina header from the right, scored with an incredible bicycle kick, a goal Italians call "il tiro della domenica" in the sense if he tried again he would very rarely manage to repeat the feat. The fact was however that he did score and Torino now still had a glimmer of hope.
There were only two minutes left and a solid tackle by Vecino enabled Lazio to end in Toro's half and avoid any last second panic. Full time score Torino 2 Lazio 3.
An excellent win for Lazio, thoroughly deserved. The Biancocelesti had been compact, played as a team and been clearly superior to former table toppers Torino. The doom and gloom of the beginning of the season was gradually disappearing. Toro meanwhile in the evening would then also be overtaken by Napoli.
Who played for Torino
Paleari, Vojvoda (78' Maripán), Masina, Coco, Lazaro (63' Njie), Ricci, Tameze (46' Adams), Ilić, Sosa (46' Pedersen), Sanabria (63'Vlašić), Zapata
Substitutes: Donnarumma, Milinkovic-Savic, Walukiewicz, Dembele, Gineitis, Linetty, Karamoh
Manager: Vanoli
Who played for Lazio
Provedel, Tavares (68' Tchaouna), Lazzari (80' Marušić), Romagnoli, Gila, Rovella, Guendouzi, Zaccagni, Dia (68' Pellegrini), Isaksen (68' Vecino), Castellanos (89' Noslin)
Substitutes: Mandas, Furlanetto, Patric, Dele-Bashiru, Castrovilli, Pedro
Manager: Baroni
Referee: Sozza
Goals: 8' Guendouzi, 60' Dia, 67' Adams, 89' Noslin, 90+2' Coco
Bookings: Sanabria (T), Isaksen (L), Ilic (T), Gila (L), Zaccagni (L)
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