Ciro Immobile will not travel to Portugal for the Europa League play-off against FC Porto, as the Lazio striker has a high fever.
The first leg of this play-off is due to kick off on Thursday at 20.00 GMT.
According to the latest reports, Immobile came down with a high fever overnight and was not in training today.
It was decided not to risk making his condition worse, so he will not travel with the rest of the squad to Portugal.
He is not the only absentee, as Manuel Lazzari has been ruled out for several weeks with a thigh muscle tear and defender Francesco Acerbi is still out of action too.
There are no other genuine centre-forwards in the squad, as Lazio loaned Vedat Muriqi to Real Mallorca in January.
Pedro or Felipe Anderson could therefore be used as the False 9, with Mattia Zaccagni completing the trident attack in Maurizio Sarri’s 4-3-3.
Lucas Leiva and Luis Alberto are suspended in Serie A this weekend, so should therefore start without the need to rotate the squad on Thursday.
It remains to be seen whether Thomas Strakosha or Pepe Reina will be picked in goal.
Coach just DON’T use Reina, PLEASE!
I dont think Lazio will do any damage to Porto. They havent been the best when playing against big teams and without immobile it is going to be especially hard.
Hopefully we escape swiftly and unharmed from this Mickey Mouse Cup, so we might be able to build som consistency. By some complete madness, Lazio might still reach the 4th spot in Serie A, so there is no point in wasting energy on a tournament the squad is way too narrow to handle at the moment.
So I look forward to seeing Reina, Kamenovic and Jovane from the start, maybe even Akpro if he is ready to play. That should do the trick.
Radu, Basic, Moro og Luka Romero hopefully also get loads of playtime.
It would just be best for everyone if Conceacao has a shot at winning the Europa League.