Serie A | Lazio 1-0 Verona: Zaccagni in the zone

1 week ago 115

Mattia Zaccagni came off the bench to seal Lazio’s victory over Verona, a third Serie A win in a row, though they also hit the woodwork twice.

The Aquile beat Juventus 2-1 on Tuesday, but it was not enough to avoid losing the Coppa Italia semi-final 3-2 on aggregate. Felipe Anderson and Daichi Kamada shook off knocks, with Zaccagni and Manuel Lazzari available too, but Ivan Provedel and Mario Gila were still out of action. Hellas broke out of the bottom three following a comeback 2-2 draw with Atalanta and victory over Udinese.

See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.

Gustav Isaksen was left totally unmarked on a corner, but denied by the Lorenzo Montipò reaction save with a boot on the line.

Felipe Anderson surged forward to see a curler smothered, while an awkward bounce on the Luis Alberto pass ruined a potential Isaksen counter-attack.

Karol Swiderski failed to make the most of a Christos Mandas error when failing to punch the cross, turning wide of an open goal. Matteo Guendouzi also had penalty appeals rejected over a slight Serdar nudge.

Straight after the restart, Cabal made a decisive sliding tackle on Daichi Kamada, then on the resulting corner Montipò grazed a fingertip to push the Felipe Anderson right-foot scorcher onto the crossbar.

Luis Alberto fired over to waste a promising counter-attack sparked by Taty Castellanos, then rushed a lob off target as the goalkeeper came tearing out.

Pedro came off the bench and really should’ve scored on 66 minutes when Kamada rolled across for him unmarked, but he rushed it and came sliding in to turn wide from eight yards.

Castellanos also had a huge chance moments later from a Guendouzi assist, but was denied by Montipò at the back post.

Lazio finally got their deserved lead with an ex-Verona player, as Mattia Zaccagni robbed Suslov in midfield, exchanged passes down the left with Luis Alberto and fired in at the near post from six yards. It was a fine way to celebrate renewing his contract this week.

Verona had a huge opportunity to equalise when a free kick took a double deflection off Diego Coppola and Kamada, but Mandas made a remarkable reaction save to parry under the bar from close range.

Lazio hit the frame of the goal for the second time with a Pedro free kick that thumped the base of the near post from a tight angle.

Verona had a chance deep into stoppages, firing over from close range after Alessio Romagnoli was shrugged off the ball at the by-line by Tijjani Noslin.