Ciro Immobile kept his cool to convert a penalty with the last kick of the game and give Lazio a third straight Serie A victory against a frustrated Fiorentina.
The Viola would fly into fourth place with a victory here, but were also coming off last week’s shock 2-0 home defeat to Empoli, then crushing Serbians Cukaricki 6-0 in the Conference League. Giacomo Bonaventura and Nico Gonzalez returned, but Michael Kayode joined Dodo, Yerry Mina and Gaetano Castrovilli on the treatment table. The Aquile were inconsistent too, winning two in a row in Serie A only to suffer a heavy Champions League loss to Feyenoord. Nicolò Casale was injured, with Taty Castellanos preferred to Ciro Immobile.
Luis Alberto hit the side-netting from close range after a Manuel Lazzari counter-attack, then Lucas Beltran had the ball in the net on 13 minutes by controlling a long ball, dribbling round Ivan Provedel and scoring from a tight angle, but it was disallowed for handball.
Beltran hit the woodwork moments later with a header from a corner routine, which thumped the back post.
Provedel rushed off his line to smother at the feet of Nico Gonzalez, who was sent clear by Jonathan Ikone, while Luis Alberto and Alessandro Parisi fired straight at the goalkeepers.
The offside flag spared Taty Castellanos blushes after missing a sitter set up by Zaccagni, but he did fire over soon after and moments later Felipe Anderson stung Pietro Terracciano’s gloves from point-blank range when turning on a Luis Alberto assist.
Terracciano was also tested by Luis Alberto, using his foot to deny the flick at the near post. Felipe Anderson was sent clear by an inspired Daichi Kamada pass only to hesitate, seeing the shot charged down.
Matias Vecino drilled wide against his former club, while M’Bala Nzola’s volley was straight at Provedel and Maxime Lopez failed to make the most of a slip.
With practically the last kick of the game, a cross was floated into the box and Vecino’s header hit Nikola Milenkovic on the upper arm from point-blank range. The referee pointed to the spot and Immobile stepped up, keeping his cool to convert into the near bottom corner.
Lazio 1-0 Fiorentina
Immobile pen 95 (L)
Player statistic
| Manuel Lazzari |  |
31' | ||
| 40' | |
Alfred Duncan | ||
| Nicolò Rovella | |
45+2' | ||
| 45+2' | |
Jonathan Ikoné |
| 55' | |
Giacomo Bonaventura | ||
| Mattia Zaccagni | |
66' | ||
| Ciro Immobile |  |
90+5' |
Match statistic
