Lazio did the Double over Juventus after the Italian Super Cup, but no prizes for guessing the Football Italia Man of the Match.
Words: Ciro Di Brita
Thomas Strakosha – 7
Made a smart save to deny Sami Khedira, could do nothing about Douglas Costa’s follow up. Made another top notch save to deny the German. Almost gifted a goal to Gonzalo Higuain, whose charged down block rebounded onto the crossbar. Redeemed himself with that last-gasp penalty save on Paulo Dybala.
Lazio did the Double over Juventus after the Italian Super Cup, but no prizes for guessing the Football Italia Man of the Match.
Words: Ciro Di Brita
Thomas Strakosha – 7
Made a smart save to deny Sami Khedira, could do nothing about Douglas Costa’s follow up. Made another top notch save to deny the German. Almost gifted a goal to Gonzalo Higuain, whose charged down block rebounded onto the crossbar. Redeemed himself with that last-gasp penalty save on Paulo Dybala.
Stefan Radu – 7
Made a vital tackle to stop Higuain from shooting inside the box mid-way through the first half.
Bastos – 7
Had a good battle with Higuain, showed some class on the ball when he made a show of two Juve players while playing out from the back.
Stefan de Vrij –7
In the first half he tried in vain to bring some calmness to a backline that was taking far too many chances when playing the ball out from the back, in the second he was a rock alongside his teammates.
Adam Marusic – 6
Worked hard and made some timely interceptions.
Senad Lulic – 6
Kept giving the ball way in the first half, grew into the game as Lazio did.
Marco Parolo – 6
Busy in midfield got around every blade of grass trying to link the defence with the attack.
Lucas Leiva – 6
Started off bright, but faded away in the first half as Lazio lost focus after conceding. Shored things up in the second and held the defensive side of his team.
Sergej Milinkovic-Savic – 7
Popped up in different places around the pitch and showed some nice touches. Was involved in the build-up for Lazio’s first goal.
Luis Alberto – 7
Grew into the game and showed his continuing strong play. Made the perfect assist for Immobile’s first goal before being replaced by Luis Nani.
Ciro Immobile – 8
Finished off a nice team passing move when he side-footed past Gigi Buffon for his first before earning and converting a penalty seven minutes later.
Substitutes:
Luis Nani – 6
Replaced the tiring Luis Alberto and tried to get on the ball to keep possession.
Felipe Caicedo – 5
Came on for Immobile and had a chance at the end to kill the game off but fired straight at Buffon.
Patric – 3
Replaced Lulic for the last 10 minutes, made some good clearances to relieve the pressure from his side. Rash tackle gave away a penalty at the end of the game that could’ve been very costly indeed.