Maurizio Sarri did not plan for his goalkeeper to score a last-gasp equaliser against Atletico Madrid, but does insist Lazio ‘received the correct reward’ for their performance.
The Champions League opener saw them pour forward only to concede against the run of play when Pablo Barrio’s effort took a big deflection off Daichi Kamada to wrong-foot Ivan Provedel.
They tried everything to equalise and got it with the last kick of the game when Luis Alberto’s cross found the glancing header from goalkeeper Provedel.
“We found a solution eventually!” smiled Sarri on Sky Sport Italia.
“Trailing at half-time considering the way the two teams had played their football was not fair and we risked feeling like victims of bad luck, of surrendering to the circumstances. The team did not do that and received the correct reward.
“A point can be important for us, because we got it against the favourites of this group.”
It was a morale-booster, because Lazio had lost three of their opening four Serie A matches, only managing to beat Champions of Italy Napoli.
“People claim we are struggling, but in the last three games we have faced Napoli, Juventus and Atletico Madrid, ending up with a win, a defeat and a draw,” continued Sarri.
“I feel we played on level terms with three of the best teams in Europe. I am only dissatisfied with our first two matches of the season. Atletico Madrid are very strong on the counter-attack, so there was ever chance we would struggle, but we allowed them none except for the final 20 minutes when we were chasing the game. I think the statistics are overwhelmingly in our favour.”
It has been noted that some of the Lazio players are still not at their best physically, while Luca Pellegrini limped off with a knock in the first half.
“Some still need to improve, certainly. In terms of the collective, we can create far more, because we play far better than the scoring opportunities we create.”
I saw the game on Mediaset. Lazio were unlucky and certainly deserved the equaliser. In the first half Lazio were patient and kept the ball well. The deflected goal was a blow but they kept going and really deserved the point.