Italian Serie A – First half review: Lazio versus Napoli
Napoli started the game strongly as in the 8th minute of the match; the ball found its way to Lavezzi whose strong shot failed to trouble Muslera as the drive lacked accuracy. Napoli were playing away from their
home stadium and thus they resorted to counter attacking football for most part of the first half which was not quite a delightful one for them.
Lazio were the first team to draw blood as the Roman club side scored the first goal of the match through Zarate in the 15thminute of the first half. Stefano Mauri was the brain behind the move that resulted in a goal for Lazio.
Mauri played the ball over the top of the Napoli defence towards Zarate, who timed his run spectacularly as he lashed onto the ball in an onside position. Zarate used his strength to resist the challenge from the defenders and then slotted the ball home effectively
to give his team the lead.
It looked at first as if the Lazio man had handled the ball with his arm but Napoli didn’t protest and therefore the referee allowed the goal to stand eventually. Napoli tried to strike back immediately as in the 16th minute
of the match, Marek Hamsik found himself in space in behind the Lazio defence. The offensive midfielder played the ball into the box for Christian Maggio but the ball just missed the strikers boot by inches as the score line remained at 1-0 to Lazio. It seemed
as if Hamsik was in an offside position when he received the ball but the linesman thought otherwise.
In the 22nd minute of the match, Zarate built on his confidence that he gained earlier on in the half by scoring Lazio’s first goal. He went past Grava at first and then played the ball to Hernanes who couldn’t
keep his ensuing shot on goal down as the ball sailed over the Lazio goal. In the 27th minute of the match, Maggio was once again involved in the build-up play for Napoli as he played in Edison Cavani. Unfortunately, Cavani’s shot was
off the target yet again as Napoli failed to take advantage of the opportunity that fell its way.
In the 29th minute, Napoli found their way past the Lazio defence yet again but this time it was Hassan Yebda whose shot was blocked. However, the loose ball fell to Lavezzi who hit the bar with his strike; this
was the closest that Napoli came to gaining parity with the home side in the first half of the encounter. In the 33rd minute of the match, Zarate was again in the limelight for Lazio as the striker tried his luck on goal but De Sanctis,
the Lazio goalkeeper was on hand to gather the ball effectively.
Right before the first half came to an end; Lazio pushed forward and almost got their second goal of the match. The ball was played in to Lichtsteiner who went past Grava before unleashing a threatening shot towards Napoli’s goal which
was acrobatically saved by De Santics. The first half eventually came to an end with the score line at 1-0 to Lazio.
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