A brace from Giuseppe Sculli helps Lazio down Palermo: Serie A match update
Lazio beat Palermo 2-0 in a Serie A encounter at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday evening. A brace from Giuseppe Sculli helped the hosts to dominate their fourth place for a UEFA Champion’s League finish.
Lazio Manager Edoardo Reja made several changes to his starting line-up that beat Cagliari 1-0 last weekend. Sergio Floccari and Sculli were retained upfront in a 4-5-1 formation for the hosts. Palermo made two changes to the side that was thrashed 7-0 by
Udinese last weekend. The suspended duo, Matteo Darmian and Armin Bacinovic, was replaced by Ezequiel Munoz and Mattia Cassani.
Palermo who were low on confidence after the 7-0 loss last weekend started positively and created few decent openings in the opening three minutes. However, Lazio came first to score in the seventh minute. Cristian Ledesma made a wonderful run through the
midfield and slid a well weighted ball for Sculli, who latched onto the ball and coolly tucked it past the diving goalkeeper to make it 1-0 for Lazio.
Moments later, Palermo came close to scoring in the 15th minute as Federico Balzaretti swung in a super low cross and Giulio Migiliaccio’s shot whistled wide of the post. Soon after, the hosts doubled their lead in the 18th minute.
Ledesma floated a measured ball from the left and Sculli beat the offside trap and headed it past Sirigu to make it 2-0 for the hosts.
The game was played at an intense pace, as the visitors came close to pulling one goal back. Balzaretti made a great run down the left flank and passed it back for Abel Hernandez, who tried a cheeky back heel at the near post but could not get it on target.
Just before the half time whistle, Fernando Muslera made a fine stop to deny Javier Patore’s glancing header.
Sinisa Andelkovic was replaced by Fabio Liverani at the break, as Palermo shifted back to 4-2-3-1 formation, which they used effectively in the early part of the season.
The second half started a very slow pace as both teams failed to dominate the possession. Palermo had the first real chance to score, when Josip llicic evaded Matuzalem and took a shot from the edge of the box but the shot could not match the build up and
the keeper gathered it comfortably.
Lazio had a wonderful chance to make it 3-0 when Ledesma played a superb ball for Guglielmo Stendardo in the penalty area, who miscued his header from a splendid position and it went just wide of the goal.
Palermo slumped to their 12th defeat of the season as their poor run of form continued.