Lazio-Juventus Match Report
La Gazetta dello Sport
Lazio-Juventus 1-3
The black-and-whites, eagerly awaited by Manchester, honour their commitments by beating the table leaders on their own ground and opening up the Championship. Goals by Henry (from a mistake by Marchegiani) and by Amoruso in the frist half, and by Mancini and Henry again in the second.
By Guido Bruschi
Lazio saw the Championship Shield getting further away after their second consecutive defeat at the Olympic Stadium. First Roma and now Juventus, awaited by Manchester, who first pummeled the home side with two goals in the first half and then, after Mancini's goal had raised everyone's hopes, Henry
virtually finished the match with his second. And now the games are even more open, even if Fiorentina didn't take advantage of other people's problems for the second consecutive Sunday and went down in Bologna.
An English-style match at the Olympic stadium: heavy drizzle and a pitch that, even if slightly heavy, seemed to be in good condition. Lazio took the field in a heavily modified formation which was effectively without the four regular defenders, however Eriksson covered Almeyda and Stankovic and there didn't seem to be much to worry about. Zidane was missing from the Juventus team (spiritually already in Manchester): his place was taken by compatriot Henry, while Amoruso was lined up alongside Inzaghi.
Lazio started strongly, as they did against Roma. The first goal seemed at hand in the 3rd minute: Vieri took off, got cleanly past Iuliani and let fly with a great left-footer from the inside which slammed into the post and ricocheted off behind the immobile Peruzzi's shoulders and went out to the side. It was a very
physical match, broken up by a lot of rough interventions which were made even more frequent by the slippery ground. There was another great chance in the 12th minute with first Salas and then Nedved in the area, who wasn't able to finish it.
A lovely exchange between Henry and Inzaghi in the 15th minute forced Lombardo to give away a corner to avoid worse trouble. As the minutes passed Juventus came up and Lazio seemed to lose the push they had in the first few minutes. However in the 21st minute Nedved got in a great shot from a distance. Peruzzi punched it out and Vieri pounced and put it into the back of the net, but Bazzoli disallowed it
because of Vieri's offside. In the 24th minute a foul on Vieri by Iuliani gave away a free kick on the edge of the box: the centre forward took it, but the wall blocked it.
Lazio got another chance in the 33rd: Salas stopped the ball on his chest for Astankovic who shot on the rebound from the edge of the area, but the ball finished a little high. And one minute later Vieri started a run which and ended up on his own in front of Peruzzi as he came out, but his chip went way wide. And as
the ball came back in, after so many near-goals, came the goal that no-one expected. Henry put in a modest, unpretending shot by from the edge of the box which Marchegiani moved confidently to block, but the ball got away from him and ended up in the back of the net. It was the 34th minute. The Lazio keeper
was in action again in the 36th minute, denying goals first to Amoruso and then Inzaghi with two flying deflections. But the knock-out blow came in the 48th minute: a precise setup by Tacchinardi for Amoruso, who took off and found himself all alone in front of Marchegiani. He stopped the ball and put it into the net.
There was still time for a free kick by Conceicao in the 50th minute: the shot was very powerful, but Peruzzi put it out for a corner. After half-time Mancini came on in place of Conceicao and Lazio took the field at
least four minutes before either the referee or the opposing side: their desire to pull back was clear. And in fact Eriksson's men began on the attack, but they didn't seem to have very clear ideas. Against them, Juventus came out with some fast and pretty precise play. And Lazio's defence seemed a little leaky.
The home side tried with long crosses from the wings and Peruzzi showed his colours with a series of blocks with his fists. But in the 11th minute Lazio got through. Mancini got his head to a corner from the left and deflected it into the net. In the 14th minute Inzaghi was substituted by Esnaider: Ancellotti was thinking about Manchester. Now Lazio were on their mettle. But it was in the 19th minute when Amoruso was fouled by Favelli on the edge of the box: the free kick was taken by Tacchinardi, who touched it on to Davids who swirled it in on the left. Marchegiani pushed it out with his open hand, but he could do nothing when Henry put it into the net from a few paces away. A personal double for the Frenchman and Lazio
were 1-3 down.
De La Pena came on and engaged Peruzzi in the 23rd minute. Lazio came within an inch of a goal again in the 32nd minute with a free kick by the Spaniard which came off the post. In the 34th minute Deschamps took over from Tacchinardi. Lazio claimed (but not very insistently) a penalty for a foul by Di Livio on Vieri in the 39th minute, and in the 44th, on a cross from the left, Vieri hit the crossbar full-on in front of a wide-open goal. And thus Lazio's black day ended.
Translation by Jim Johnstone for NAYS - News As You Speak
