Serie A | Lazio 2-0 Empoli: Aquile are on a roll

Lazio are on a roll with their fourth win in five Serie A games, as Patric and Matias Vecino got the better of relegation strugglers Empoli to stay in the European race.

Coach Igor Tudor left Luis Alberto at home over disciplinary issues and was missing injured Mario Gila, with Ivan Provedel still not ready in goal. The visitors were still without Sebastian Walukiewicz, Alberto Cerri and Tyronne Ebuehi.

See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.

Lazio wore special jerseys and welcomed the heroes of 1974 before kick-off to mark the 50^th anniversary of their first Scudetto.

Ciccio Caputo had the ball in the net after 17 minutes, but was clearly offside on the Matteo Cancellieri pass when going one-on-one with Christos Mandas, while Simone Bastoni curled just over after pouncing on a Daichi Kamada error.

Ciro Immobile completed a give and go to burst into the box, but Elia Caprile did enough to steer him wide without contact.

Ardian Ismajli should’ve done better when turning his diving header over from a corner, but Empoli had a huge opportunity when Matteo Guendouzi gave it away, Cancellieri nutmegged Alessio Romagnoli and rolled across for Caputo, forcing a stunning Mandas reaction save.

Moments later, Immobile sprung the offside trap and tested Caprile at the near post, but the visitors twice fired just over with Razvan Marin from the edge of the area.

However, it was Lazio who took the lead with the last kick of the half, as a Mattia Zaccagni corner found Patric surprisingly unmarked to flick in off the outside of the boot from a couple of yards at the near post.

Felipe Anderson’s attempt was deflected over and Matias Vecino fired wide on the counter-attack, while Kamada blasted straight at Caprile.

Mandas had to make a fantastic reaction save to fingertip the Shpendi header off the line at the back post, but Lazio doubled their lead soon after when Vecino finished off the passing move left to right, meeting Pedro’s pass to surge through the centre.

The last kick of the game was a wonderful Jacopo Fazzini free kick that Mandas flew to fingertip out of the near top corner.

Lazio 2-0 Empoli

Patric 45 (L), Vecino 89 (L)

12-05-2024 11:30 MatchDay 36 Stadio Olimpico

Lazio

Empoli 2 - 0

Player statistic

1st half

Patric (Assist: Mattia Zaccagni)

45+3'

2nd half

	73'	Emmanuel Gyasi
Manuel Lazzari	78'
Nicolò Rovella	86'
Matías Vecino (Assist: Pedro)

89' Alessio Romagnoli

90+6'

Match statistic

60 Possession % 40 11 Total shots 16 5 Shots on target 3 1 Shots off target 9 5 Blocked shots 4 7 Corners 7 Offsides 3 18 Fouls 16 Lazio Empoli

Starting lineups

35

Christos Mandas Goalkeeper 77

Adam Marusic Defender 13

Alessio Romagnoli Defender 23

Elseid Hysaj Defender 29

Manuel Lazzari Defender 4

Patric Defender 6

Daichi Kamada Midfielder 88' 8

Mattéo Guendouzi Midfielder 65' 20

Mattia Zaccagni Midfielder 76' 17

Ciro Immobile Attacker 65' 7

Felipe Anderson Attacker 65' 25

Elia Caprile Goalkeeper 34

Ardian Ismajli Defender 19

Bartosz Bereszynski Defender 3

Giuseppe Pezzella Defender 67' 33

Sebastiano Luperto Defender 77' 18

Razvan Marin Midfielder 30

Simone Bastoni Midfielder 55' 29 Youssef Maleh Midfielder 76' 11 Emmanuel Gyasi Attacker 9

Francesco Caputo Attacker

67' 20 Matteo Cancellieri Attacker

Substitutes

3

Luca Pellegrini Defender 15 Nicolò Casale Defender 94

Ivan Provedel Goalkeeper 18

Gustav Isaksen Attacker 22 Diego González Attacker 59 Davide Renzetti Goalkeeper 65

Nicolò Rovella Midfielder 65' 5

Matías Vecino Midfielder 65' 19

Taty Castellanos Attacker 65' 9

Pedro Attacker 76' 32

Danilo Cataldi Midfielder 88' 27

Szymon Zurkowski Midfielder 5

Alberto Grassi Midfielder 17

Alberto Cerri Attacker 4

Sebastian Walukiewicz Defender 8

Viktor Kovalenko Midfielder 1

Samuele Perisan Goalkeeper 10

M’Baye Niang Attacker 12 Jacopo Seghetti Goalkeeper 2 Saba Goglichidze Defender 28

Nicolò Cambiaghi Attacker 55' 23

Mattia Destro Attacker 67' 13 Liberato Cacace Defender 67' 21 Jacopo Fazzini Midfielder 76' 7

Stiven Shpendi Attacker

77'