Italian Serie A – Match Review: Lazio versus Napoli (Part 1)
Napoli’s line up: De Sanctis; Grava, Cannavaro, Campagnaro; Maggio, Yebda, Pazienza, Vitale; Hamsik; Cavani, Lavezzi.
Subs: Iezzo, Cribari, Santacroce, Blasi, Zuniga, Sosa, Dumitru.
Lazio’s line up: Muslera, Lichtsteiner, Dias, Biava, Radu; Brocchi, Ledesma, Zarate, Hernanes, Mauri; Floccari.
Subs: Berni, Diakitè, Garrido, Matuzalem, Bresciano, Foggia, Rocchi.
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 defense 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 defense. 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 however 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. The first half thus came to an end with the home team, Lazio in ascendency but only by a single goal.
However, the Roman club again came out strongly in the second half as in the 48th minute it was Liechtensteiner who tried his luck towards the Napoli goal. Nonetheless, the winger’s shot was off target
as the visitors were left off the hook yet again. In the 50thminute, the quick and tricky winger Hernanes featured brightly for the home side as he slipped in a glorious ball to Ledesma. Ledesma unleashed a good shot but the effort
was wide of the mark due to the closing down by Napoli’s defense.
In the 53rd minute, Dias became the first man to go into the referee book in the match as he committed himself to a rash challenge on Cavani. The Lazio man was shown a yellow card as a result of the tackle
by the match referee. Lazio built on their terrific start to the second half as Floccari surged forward in the 55th minute of the match. The center forward went past three players before trying his luck on goal but the eventual product
i.e. the shot was wide of Napoli’s goal. In the 58th minute, Zarate was given a yellow card by the referee for his dangerous challenge on Grava.
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