The Lazio vince a Monza 0-2 and consolidates second place behind Napoli. Get ahead with Pedro at the start of the game, the biancocelesti doubled in the second half with a masterpiece signed by Milinkovic-Savic, protagonist of a surgical punishment that leaves no way out for Di Gregorio. The team of Palladino gives signs of life especially in the first half with Sensi e Petagna who came close to scoring but, during the second half, did too little to worry the guests.
THE MATCH
Palladino, in the defensive phase, piazza Sensi to press Cataldi, with Caprari and Petagna to deal with the two central defenders of Lazio. The biancocelesti thus try more to start the action on the outside. Sarri asks Felipe Anderson to close Pablo Marì while Pedro and Zaccagni are arranged in an intermediate phase between the arm and the fifth at Monza, with Milinkovic-Savic and Luis Alberto busy pressing Rovella and Machin. The choice, in the offensive phase, of the landlords is to take advantage of the third man to move up the field and change the game against a team used to being tight when they don’t have the ball, leaving more space on the weaker side.
Lazio, however, this year really knows how to be ruthless. The first to try is Pedro, who tries a shot from outside without finding the target. Which instead will happen a minute later: Zaccagni sows panic on the left and puts it in the middle, the Monza defense falls asleep and the former Barça scores the winning shot. After a while it is the same guest left winger who sets up on his own and commits Di Gregorio. Then the hosts wake up. The usual change of play is tamed by Ciurria who puts in the middle for the insertion of Sensi who, with his head, splinters the post to the left of Provedel. It is always Lazio, however, who create the greatest dangers, such as when Luis Alberto attempts a shot from outside. However, Ciurria is always the most insidious of him, as when he perfectly fishes Petagna’s head which seriously engages Provedel, who saves himself for a corner.
The second half opens with four yellow cards from Monza and with the masterpiece of Milinkovic-Savic who, with a perfect free-kick from the edge, mocks Di Gregorio and becomes the most prolific foreign scorer in the history of Lazio. Palladino tries everything and sends Antov, Colpani and Dany Mota onto the field at the same time for Marlon, Rovella and Petagna. Sarri responds with the entry of Immobile who replaces Pedro, with Felipe Anderson moving to the wing. Then he lets out Luis Alberto who doesn’t take it very well, refusing to shake his coach’s hand. Monza practically never worries the away defense apart from a sensational mistake by Gytkjaer face to face with Provedel in the final. The reasons to smile, for Sarri, are not lacking. In addition to the increasingly consolidated second place, there is the seventeenth clean sheet in the championship. Not bad for a coach considered, from the trivial clichés, as one dedicated only to playfulness.
REPORT CARDS
MARLON 5 – He is one of the negative protagonists of the action that leads to Pedro’s goal.
PETAGNE 5.5 – Someone wanted him in the national team and he doesn’t do much to convince Mancini, apart from a header that commits Provedel.
GYTKJAER 5 – It would be a classic case of no vote if you didn’t eat a goal face to face with the Lazio goalkeeper in the final.
PROVEDEL 7- Concentrated and decisive the few times he is called into question.
MILINKOVIC-SAVIC 7,5 – He invents vertical plays as a champion and closes the games with a sumptuous free-kick.
PEDRO 7 – It never gets old. He immediately had an opportunity at the start and has the merit of unlocking the game.
THE TABLE
MONZA-LAZIO 0-2
Monza (3-4-2-1): By Gregory 6; Marlon 5 (14′ st Antov 6), Pablo Marí 5.5, Donati 5.5; Ciurria 6.5, Machin 5.5 (35′ st Barberis sv), Rovella 5.5 (14′ st Colpani 6), Carlos Augusto 5.5; Sensi 6, Caprari 5 (26′ st Gytkjaer 5); Petagna 5.5 (14′ St Dany Mota 6). Coach Palladino 6
Lazio (4-3-3): Provedel 7; Lazzari 6 (38′ st Pellegrini sv), Casale 6, Romagnoli 6.5, Hysaj 6; Milinkovic-Savic 7.5, Cataldi 6.5 (26′ st Vecino 6), Luis Alberto 6.5 (26′ st Basic 6); Pedro 7 (20′ st Immobile 6), Felipe Anderson 6.5, Zaccagni 7. Herd Sarri 7
Referee: Mercenary
Markers: 13′ Pedro (L.), 11′ st Milinokic-Savic (L.)
Ammonite yourself: Ciurria (M.), Caprari (M.), Marlon (M.), Donati (M.), Zaccagni (L.), Sensi (M.), Felipe Anderson (L.)
THE STATISTICS
– Goal number 65 with the Lazio shirt for Sergej Milinkovic-Savic counting all competitions: the midfielder has become the foreign player with the most goals in the history of the biancoceleste club.
– First goal in this Serie A from a direct free kick by Lazio. The last time the Biancocelesti had found the net in this way dates back to the away match against Napoli on 22 April 2021, again with the Serbian midfielder.
– Lazio have kept clean sheets in 17 of the 28 seasonal games in Serie A, only in 2006/07 (18) have they collected more clean sheets in a single top-flight championship.
– Lazio is the team with the most players with at least four goals scored in this Serie A (six, Milinkovic-Savic, Luis Alberto, Zaccagni, Felipe Anderson, Immobile and Pedro).
– Monza lost all three matches played against the two teams from the Capital in this tournament, for an aggregate score of 0-6.
– Starting from matchday 23, no team has scored more points than Lazio in Serie A (16 like Fiorentina).
– Only Barcelona (20) have won more clean sheets than Lazio in the top five current European championships (17).
– Sergej Milinkovic-Savic’s goal is Monza’s first conceded at home from outside the box in Serie A this season.
– Lazio have collected 10 clean sheets in their first 14 away games in this Serie A: no team has ever collected more after their first 14 away games in the competition in the 21st century (10, including Roma in 2003/04).
– Monza have conceded in six consecutive Serie A games and have equaled their longest run of matches by conceding at least once in the competition (the first six games of this league, with Giovanni Stroppa on the bench).
– Lazio are the team that has scored the most goals (10) in the first 15′ of the first half in this league and the only one that hasn’t conceded yet in this interval.
Third away goal this league for Pedro: The last time the Spanish striker hit three away goals in a single season in Europe’s top five was with Chelsea in 2016/17.
– Lazio have recorded six clean sheets in a row for the second time in this league (the previous time between September and October 2022): in their entire previous history in Serie A, Lazio had recorded at least 6 clean sheets in a row in a single another occasion (seven between February and March 1998 with Sven-Göran Eriksson at the helm).