Story of the match
Lazio, once again, had a late, dramatic win with Ciro Immobile leading the way for the Biancocelesti. The striker scored his 18th and 19th goal in this match and further distanced himself in the scoring race for Capocannoniere.
Mario Balotelli scored the first goal early in the match. The striker was able to beat out defender Luiz Felipe, as the right back did a poor job of defending the forward. Stefano Sabelli delivered a pass into the box and Balotelli got a nice touch and controlled the ball to get a shot to the far-right side of the net. Lazio conceded the first goal of the decade and Balotelli has now scored the first goal of the decade in Serie A for the past two decades.
Lazio continued to get chances in the first half and the Biancocelesti were finally rewarded as Immobile did a great job fighting off two defenders before sending a nice back heel pass into the box. Felipe Caicedo received the pass where he was hauled down by Andrea Cistana in the box. The defender received a yellow card on the play and his second of the match, forcing Brescia to play with a man down for the rest of the game.
Immobile made no mistake on the penalty shot, converting his sixth penalty kick of the season and scoring his 18th goal. Although he has shown to be very quiet at times, the striker has been pivotal when needed and rose to the occasion in this match.
In the second half, Brescia made it hard for the Biancocelesti to score although they were up a man. Brescia had the first best chance of the half with Dimitri Bisoli getting a left shot off from the centre of the box, yet Thomas Strakosha made a nice save to preserve the tie and kept it at 1-1. Moments later, Senad Lulic had a good chance for Lazio at the left side of the box after a pass from Immobile. The wing back got a shot on net, however, Jesse Joronen made a nice diving save to stop the captain from scoring.
It seemed as if the Biancocelesti were going to leave the Mario Rigamonti with a draw, yet that was not the case as in the 91st minute of injury time, Immobile once again delivered for his team. With time ticking on the clock, Francesco Acerbi delivered a pass from midfield into the box and Caicedo received the pass and brought it down nicely. The Ecuadorian did a nice job to find Immobile and the striker found the back of the net and scored his league leading 19th goal of the season.
Lazio continues to win in dramatic style and are keeping pace with Juventus and Inter Milan for first place and look to solidify a spot into Champions League. As for Brescia, they will sit in the relegation zone after this match as the Biancazzurri have let points slip away in the past two matches.
Takeaways from the match
Lazio continue where they left off before the Christmas break as they now have a team record of nine straight victories. The club has shown that they can win in different ways this season compared to the last where they, at times, showed poor form or conceded to early in their matches.
With Lucas Leiva and Luis Alberto out in this match due to suspension, Joaquin Correa and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic were key in this match and both players stepped up. Correa used his speed and ball dribbling while Savic made many key passes and advanced the ball quite nicely. Savic’s presence in the box was also noticeable throughout the match as the Serbian showed good touch in the box and sent nice passes to his teammates to create opportunities.
Balotelli started the decade the same way he did in the past decade. The striker opened the Serie A scoring in the past two decades, yet his goal in this match was not enough to give Brescia the win. The club has given up vital points in their past two matches and see themselves still in the relegation zone.
Man of the match
Immobile continues to be Lazio’s best player this season. With Immobile having a quiet game and looking frustrated at times, he managed to deliver when it counted the most. The striker did a great job on the first goal with his hold up play to find Caicedo in the box with forward creating a penalty shot. On the second goal, the Italian found himself in the right spot and did a good job receiving Caicedo’s pass to score the late winner for Lazio. The forward capped off two goals in this match and further increased his total to 19 goals this season. With the way the forward has been playing this season, it’s quite possible that the striker could surpass Gonzalo Higuain’s scoring record.