A mouth-watering showdown between Lazio and Milan at the Stadio Olimpico will serve to drop the curtain on Sunday’s Serie A action. Both sides head into proceedings in desperate need of points, albeit for different reasons.
Europa League hopefuls Lazio come into this fixture trailing fifth-placed Roma by two points, meaning a win would fire them past bitter cross-town rivals. Despite experiencing a topsy-turvy domestic season, Maurizio Sarri’s side could reedem themselves to the fans by securing qualification for Europe’s second-tier competition.
Inter’s thumping 3-1 win over Roma has seen Simone Inzaghi’s men leapfrog Milan to the top of the Serie A standings. However, the Rossoneri would regain control at the summit by winning in Rome. Stefano Pioli’s men will be out to prove a morale-crushing 3-0 defeat to the Nerazzurri in midweek Coppa Italia action was just a fluke.
Match Preview
Lazio
An underwhelming 1-1 stalemate with mid-table Torino last time out knocked Lazio down from a two-game winning Serie A streak. Lazio’s defensive woes have seen them go four consecutive league matches without a clean sheet since a 1-0 home triumph over relegation-threatened Venezia in mid-March.
On the bright side, Sarri’s men are unbeaten in their last eight Serie A outings at the Stadio Olimpico (W4, D4), netting 3+ goals in 50% of those games. Much of the credit for Lazio’s free-scoring home form goes to talismanic striker Ciro Immobile, who has tallied seven goals in his 14 Serie A appearances against Milan.
Immobile alone could prove insufficient as Lazio hope to avenge a disheartening 2-0 defeat in the reverse fixture. That’s easier said than done, though, as the Biancocelesti succumbed to an embarrassing 4-0 thrashing in their Coppa Italia quarter-final tie earlier in 2022.
Milan
Milan will take the field in high spirits despite the abovementioned humiliation at the hands of Inter. Pioli’s men have gone unbeaten in their last 11 Serie A fixtures (W6, D5), the longest onoging such streak in the competition following Roma’s faltering at Giuseppe Meazza.
Defensively robust, the Rossoneri have kept a clean sheet in their last six Serie A outings, their best such run in Italy’s top division since 1994. In fact, Milan have conceded only seven goals in their 14 Serie A matches in 2022. Across Europe’s top-five leagues, only Liverpool (six) have let in fewer league goals than Pioli’s team this calendar year.
Following a clear-cut victory in the reverse fixture, Milan could complete their first Serie A double over Lazio since 2008/09. Yet, the visitors have found the away goals hard to come by of late, bagging under 1.5 goals in their last three league matches on hostile turf.
Lazio vs Milan Team News
Thomas Strakosha, Marius Adamonis, Stefan Radu, Danilo Cataldi and Raul Moro are all struggling with fever and gastrointestinal issues and will likely miss out on Sunday’s clash. Pedro has yet to recover from injury, meaning Lazio will take on Milan severely weakened.
As for the travelling side, Alessandro Florenzi, Samu Castillejo and Simon Kjaer remain on the sidelines through injury. But Ante Rebic has regained full fitness, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic could make the bench after completing a training session with the rest of the squad on Friday.
Heavily linked with a summer move to Lazio, Milan captain Alessio Romagnoli should be on the bench.
Lazio Potential Starting XI (4-3-3): Pepe Reina; Adam Marusic, Francesco Acerbi, Luiz Felipe, Lazzari; Luis Alberto, Lucas Leiva, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic; Mattia Zaccagni, Ciro Immobile, Felipe Anderson.
AC Milan Potential Starting XI (4-2-3-1): Mike Maignan; Davide Calabria, Pierre Kalulu, Fikayo Tomori, Theo Hernandez; Sandro Tonali, Ismael Bennacer; Junior Messias, Franck Kessie, Rafael Leao; Olivier Giroud.