Lazio and the Stadio Olimpico showed no mercy to their former favorite Simone Inzaghi as the Biancocelesti dismantled his Inter side 3-1 on Friday night to temporarily move to the top of the Serie A table.
It was the second time that the former Lazio coach came back to the Olimpico since parting ways with the Eagles. It ended with the exact same score as one year ago, but calling it a curse would not fully explain why Inter struggled so much tonight.
The Nerazzurri appeared dreadfully far from their best form, with the only Lautaro Martinez (who scored Inter’s temporary equalizer) living up to the expectation.
Maurizio Sarri, on the other hand, made the best out of his changes as Lazio’s second and third goal came from substitutes Luis Alberto and Pedro, who built up on Felipe Anderson’s opener.
Sarri started with a solid 4-3-3 lineup with Ivan Provedel between the sticks and former Inter player Matias Vecino in the middle of the park. Felipe Anderson partnered with Ciro Immobile and Mattia Zaccagni upfront.
Simone Inzaghi did not deviate from his usual 3-5-2 formation but surprisingly gave a chance to Roberto Gagliardini, who played in midfield instead of Hakan Calhanoglu.
Inter started aggressive and tested Provedel with Denzel Dumfries first and then with Gagliardini, who found the former Spezia custodian equal to the task. Lazio answered on 15 minutes with a Ciro Immobile shot that went off target by a few inches.
The Biancocelesti grew minute after minute and came to test Samir Handanovic multiple times. On 37 minutes, Immobile was served by Felipe Anderson and called the Slovenian goalkeeper to a difficult save.
Romelu Lukaku’s header three minutes later was the Belgian’s only noteworthy effort of the night. It served as a prelude to Lazio’s first goal, which came immediately after. Much of the credit for it must go to Sergej Milinkovic Savic, who picked Anderson with a fabulous lob to put the ball past the Nerazzurri‘s shaky defense. The Brazilian got the job done by slotting it past the hapless Handanovic.
Inter had a reaction though, which bore fruit five minutes after the restart. Lautaro Martinez resolved in his side’s favor a chaotic action into the Biancocelesti‘s area, beating Provedel with a clinical conclusion from a Dumfries header suggestion.
One minute later, it took an authentic miracle on the part of the Lazio goalkeeper to prevent Inter from completing their comeback. Provedel showed some fantastic reflexes to push away a Dumfries header from point blank range.
The Nerazzurri now seemed to be having the upper hand but their illusion was short-lasting. Maurizio Sarri quickly took some countermeasures as he sent in Luis Alberto and Pedro.
They both turned to be the Comandante‘s aces in the hole as Luis Alberto switched back the game’s momentum in Lazio’s favor with a fantastic conclusion from outside of the box. Nicoló Barella’s deflection didn’t change much the trajectory of the ball, which flew into the top corner of the net to make it 2-1 for the Eagles on the one-hour mark.
Simone Inzaghi threw Joaquin Correa and Calhanoglu in the mix (he had already brought in Edin Dzeko, Robin Gosens, and Matteo Darmian) but it was too late. Lazio were in the zone now and found the back of the net again on 86 minutes.
The third goal was a courtesy from Pedro, who drove the ball home with a clinical right-foot curl to set the score at 3-1. Just like one year ago. Inter have much work to do, while Lazio officially launched their campaign to surprise package of the season.
MATCH SCORECARD
August 26, 2022 – Serie A 2022-2023 Round 3
LAZIO – INTER 3-1
SCORERS: 39′ Felipe Anderson (L), 51′ Lautaro Martinez (I), 74 Luis Alberto (L), 86′ Pedro (L)
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LAZIO (4-3-3): Provedel; Lazzari (70′ Hysaj), Patric, Romagnoli, Marusic; Milinkovic Savic, Cataldi (82′ Marcos Antonio), Vecino (55′ Luis Alberto); Felipe Anderson (82′ Cancellieri), Immobile, Zaccagni (55′ Pedro) (Maximiano, Adamonis, Gila, Radu, Casale, Luka Romero, Cancellieri) Coach: Sarri |
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INTER (3-5-2): Handanovic; Skriniar, De Vrij, Bastoni; Dumfries (68′ Darmian), Barella (77′ Calhanoglu), Brozovic, Gagliardini (77′ Correa), Dimarco (68′ Gosens); Lukaku (68′ Dzeko), Lautaro Martinez (Onana, Cordaz, Bellanova, D’Ambrosio, Darmian, Asllani) Coach: S. Inzaghi |
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Zaccagni, Marusic (L)
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