Story of the match
Lazio continue to show good form as they have now won six straight matches and are unbeaten in their last nine games. Ciro Immobile continues to have a good season in the Serie A as the striker scored two goals in the 3-0 defeat against Udinese. The Italian currently leads the league in scoring with 17 goals and is on pace to beat the record for most goals in a season.
The match started with Lazio converting at the 9th minute of the match when Sergej Milinkovic-Savic received a nice pass from Luis Felipe from the right side of the midfield. The Serbian did a great job to bring the ball down while he was being defended and sent a pass to Immobile, who read the play well, gave the midfielder support and converted to give Lazio a 1-0 lead.
Udinese lacked quality up front throughout the match as anytime the Bianconeri had an opportunity, the end result was from a poor pass or a costly mistake which resulted in Lazio going on the counter attack. The best chance of the match came at the 12th minute when Ilija Nestorovski came down the right side and received a pass from Rolando Mandragora. The forward had a great chance to tie the match at 1-1, however, his shot went just wide left of the post.
At the 36th minute, Lazio’s relentless pressure resulted in a penalty kick. Joaquin Correa received a beautiful pass from Luis Alberto in the midfield and the forward advanced nicely. Correa did a great job to beat William Troost-Ekong and caused the defender to commit a foul on the play. Video Assistant Referee was needed and after the referee reviewed the play, it was deemed a foul. Immobile converted on the penalty kick to make it 2-0 for Lazio.
Near the end of the first half, Correa once again made it difficult for the Udinese defense. The forward dribbled into the penalty box area, where he beat Bram Nutinck, yet the defender committed a foul on Correa where he slid to reach for the ball, yet missed it and caught the left foot of the Argentine. With Lazio up 2-0, Immobile gave the kick to Alberto for good reason. The Spaniard converted to make it 3-0 for Lazio and ran to sideline to show a sign for his parents’ birthday.
The second half resulted in no goals for either side and Lazio continued where they left off in the first half and held most of the possession. It was a strong complete match from the Biancocelesti and they will enter their match against Juventus in fine form. These are encouraging times for Lazio, yet the same cannot be said for Udinese. Already firing their coach Igor Tudor this season, the team continues to struggle to win matches as they have only won once in their last five games.
Takeaways of the match
Immobile continues to have a strong start to the season. Although it was a slow start to the match for the Italian, the striker scored two goals with one being the game-winning goal. The forward had seven shots on net, converting three and linking up very well with Correa.
Alberto also continues to impress this season. The midfielder now has three goals and nine assists this season. Alberto converted on a penalty kick to give Lazio a 3-0 lead and made a fine pass to Correa which resulted in the Argentine setting up the first penalty kick of the match.
The man of the match
Although the forward’s name didn’t appear on the score sheet in this match, Correa made it very difficult throughout the match for Udinese to defend the forward. The Argentine created penalty kicks on two separate occasions with his fine dribbling skills. Correa worked very well upfront with Immobile as the two have shown this season that they play very well together.