Pre-Season Friendly
Saturday, August 11, 2002
White Hart Lane, London
Tottenham Hotspur Lazio 2-2
Lazio again concede early but come back from two goals down to draw at White Hart Lane.
This today was Lazio's fourth and last friendly of their British tour. On July 30 Lazio had clinched a prestigious victory at Anfield by beating Liverpool 1-0, with a goal by César. They had then beaten Derby County 2-1 but on August 9 had lost 2-3 to Blackburn Rovers.
The match
A 3 pm Sunday afternoon kick off saw a decent turn out. The game was preceded by both groups of fans chanting the name of their idol Paul "Gazza" Gascoigne.
Spurs were missing defender Ledley King, midfielders Darren Anderton, Gus Poyet and Simon Davies plus forward Robbie Keane.
Lazio were without first keeper Angelo Peruzzi, defenders Beppe Favalli, Sinisa Mihajlovic and Paolo Negro plus midfielder Lucas Castromán.
A few days earlier, at Blackburn, Lazio had conceded a goal inside the first minute. Today in North London they did slightly better and fell behind after two minutes. Serhiy Rebrov skipped past several Lazio defenders and put a perfect cross onto the far post where Dean Richards headed it in. Spurs 1 Lazio 0.
Lazio struggled to get into any rhythm and in the 19th minute the Lillywhites scored again. Jamie Redknapp picked up on a rare Alessandro Nesta imperfection and blasted a long-range effort past Luca Marchegiani. Spurs 2 Lazio 0.
Lazio improved gradually and in the 28th minute pulled a goal back through Claudio Lopez on a César assist. Halftime Spurs 2 Lazio 1.
Lazio made three changes at the break: Fernando Couto for Jaap Stam, Diego Simeone for César and Simone Inzaghi for Stefano Fiore. Lazio now played with three forwards and were a lot more positive.
Hernan Crespo first missed an open goal but then redeemed himself in the 57th minute when he headed in a Lopez cross. Spurs 2 Lazio 2.
Lazio were now in control with Nesta, Massimo Oddo and Beppe Pancaro having no problems keeping Rebrov and replacement Steffen Iversen at bay.
Lazio almost took the lead in the 74th minute but Kasey Keller pulled off a brilliant save to deny Crespo his brace.
Several more substitutions followed and it was then Tottenham who went close to snatching the win in the 89th minute but Marchegiani saved well on a long range shot by Goran Bunjevcevic. Final score Spurs 2 Lazio 2.
A fair result in the end. The Londoners had been better in the first half and the Romans in the second. Both teams however looked as if they still had work to do.
Tottenham did not look particularly sharp considering their league debut was less than a week away while Lazio would have to get rid of the vice of conceding goals in the first minutes if they wanted to have a successful season.
Who played for Tottenham
Keller, Carr, Perry (66' Gardner), Richards, Taricco, Redknapp (75' Blondel), Bunjevcevic, Acimovic (75' Bortolozzo), Etherington, Sheringham (66' Iversen), Rebrov
Manager: Hoddle
Who played for Lazio
Marchegiani, Oddo, Nesta, Stam (46' Couto), Pancaro, Fiore (46' S. Inzaghi), Liverani (76' Giannichedda), Stankovic, César (46' Simeone), C. Lopez, Crespo
Manager: Mancini
Referee: D'Urso
Goals: 2' Richards, 19' Redknapp, 28' C.Lopez, 57' Crespo
Sources
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