Lazio are ready to take part in their ninth Supercoppa Italiana campaign, keen to create a turning point in Saudi Arabia.
The Biancocelesti qualified for the 2024 edition of the tournament after securing a second-place finish in Serie A last term.
The new format, hosted in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, features four teams, the winners of Serie A and Coppa Italia, and the two runners up. The other participating teams are Fiorentina, Inter and Napoli.
Lazio have a strong history in the Supercoppa Italiana, having appeared eight teams in the past, winning five times – in 1998, 2000, 2009, 2017 and 2019. Their other three final appearances came in 2004, 2013 and 2015.
Their man in the dugout – Maurizio Sarri – does not have a positive history in the tournament. His only appearance came with Juventus in 2019, when they lost to the Biancocelesti 3-1 at the King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh.
For Lazio, this competition comes as a welcome break to the regular season, a campaign which has been characterised by a few highs and a number of lows. They sit sixth in the Serie A table after 20 matches, having picked up 33 points from 10 wins and three draws.
In the cups, they’ve qualified for the Coppa Italia semi-final, where they’ll battle it out with Juventus, and will face off against Bayern Munich in the Champions League Round of 16. The German giants knocked them out of Europe’s premier club competition at the same stage three years ago.
Domestically, Sarri’s side did not have a positive start to the season. They started with two back-to-back losses to Lecce and Genoa before defeating Napoli. They followed that up with a loss to Juventus and draw with Monza, results that perfectly exemplify their inconsistency this term.
Lazio did start to find their footing from October onwards, despite some frustrating defeats to Bologna and Salernitana, and now they’ve found a vein of good form, winning their last five consecutive matches across the league and Coppa Italia.
It won’t be easy for the Biancocelesti in Saudi Arabia, however. Their first opponents are the high-flying Inter, who are managed by a modern expert of the Supercoppa Italiana – their old coach, Simone Inzaghi.
Inzaghi won two Supercoppa Italiana with Lazio before leaving for the Nerazzurri in the summer of 2021, where he’s since won the cup twice more, as well as two Coppa Italia titles. This term, his team sit top of the league table and look poised to lift at least one trophy in the coming months.
The Roman club have shown some positives in their five previous meetings with Inzaghi’s Inter, winning by a 3-1 margin twice. They’ve also suffered multiple defeats, including in the league back in December, and look to be underdogs heading into the coming clash with Riyadh.
The other side of the bracket sees Napoli take on Fiorentina, two teams that Sarri’s Lazio beat in the first half of the season. As such, victory over Inter in their semi-final clash would give them a strong shot of lifting the trophy on Monday next week.