Serie A Lazio preserves league’s dignity, halts Osimhen and Napoli’s run

March 4, 2023 Sports 2 Views

Lazio dealt with Napoli’s attacking threat, keeping them quiet as they picked up all three points from the Diego Maradona Stadium.

Lazio handed Napoli their first defeat in eight Serie A games and only their second of the season with a gutsy performance, shutting them out and scoring a screamer in their 1-0 victory.

Napoli hosted Lazio at the Diego Maradona stadium as they looked to go 21 points clear at the top of the Serie A, the first such occurrence in the Italian top flight since one win counted as three points.

The Partenopei will not have it their way, however, as Maurizio Sarri’s men halted their run of eight straight wins thanks to a well-hit effort from Matias Vecino in the 67th minute of the game.

Napoli are still leaders of the Serie A and comfortably so; however, Inter can now cut their lead back to 15 points when they host Lecce on Sunday. Until then, Lazio sit second on the Serie A table.

How it happened

Napoli started with purpose, like the league leaders, and they had the visitors camped in their half for most of the opening of proceedings; however, they did not manage to breach Lazio’s block.

Lazio slowly played their way into the game, playing well in spells but were particularly alive in counters-attacks. The first-half ended goalless; Napoli played as they should be ahead but did not do much in the way of earning it.

The second-half was more of the same, with Napoli huffing and puffing but never going for the bite. Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia had half chances, but they amounted to nothing in the end, while Lazio continued to carry the threat in transitions.

Lazio were finally rewarded for their forays when the resulting attempt of a counter-attack of theirs was thought to have been repelled, but it fell into the path of Vecino on the edge of the box, who volleyed beautifully past Meret in goal for Napoli.

Lazio went close to doubling their lead when Millinkovic-Savic’s free-kick crashed against the bar. Napoli pushed for a late equaliser and were even involved in a goalmouth scramble, but it was to be Napoli’s day, and the ball somehow avoided crossing over into Lazio’s goal.

Osimhen halted

Not many teams can say they shut out Victor Osimhen; in fact, he has scored in each of his last eight Serie A games and was gunning for nine, matching Ciro Immobile and David Trezeguets’s runs to put himself only two games behind Gabriel Batistuta’s record of eleven consecutive games finding the back of the net in Serie A.

However, the Nigerian striker blanked against a dogged Lazio defence; he unluckily hit the woodwork, but other than that, he did not manage a shot on target, with his few shots on the night either blocked or off target.