Teenager Luka Romero’s first Serie A goal allowed Lazio to see off Monza and catch Milan in joint second place, but Andrea Petagna’s back-heel flick was ruled narrowly offside.
The Biancocelesti were fresh from a morale-boosting victory in the Derby Della Capitale and welcomed Sergej Milinkovic-Savic back from suspension, but Ciro Immobile was still only fit for the bench, with Mattia Zaccagni and Patric injured. Monza are without Stefano Sensi and Pablo Mari for several months, plus Dany Mota Carvalho had a knock, so Andrea Petagna was upfront.
Andrea Colpani tested Ivan Provedel from distance, then provided the assist, rolling across from the right for Petagna’s cheeky back-heel flick from six yards into the far bottom corner. However, the goal after 13 minutes was ruled offside using VAR, as his toes were over.
Matias Vecino failed to truly connect with a Pedro pull-back at the near post, but Lazio sustained another muscular injury for Manuel Lazzari after just 26 minutes.
Armando Izzo nodded over from a corner and Vecino really should’ve scored when side-footing over from 12 yards on a Felipe Anderson pull-back.
It was end to end stuff, Colpani literally running from his own area to drill wide on the counter-attack.
Danilo Cataldi’s free kick was deflected over and Milinkovic-Savic completely mis-kicked from the resulting corner when relatively undisturbed.
The deadlock was finally broken with Luka Romero’s debut Serie A goal, eight days shy of his 18th birthday. Toma Basic had pulled back from the left for a Pedro shot that Michele Di Gregorio spilled and Romero was quickest to react by firing into the roof of the net. He was the second-youngest Lazio player to score in Serie A after Alessandro Capponi, aged 17 years and 129 days during a 2-1 win over Lucchese in December 1936.
Danilo Cataldi didn’t put enough power on the finish and Di Gregorio rushed off his line to close down Felipe Anderson.
Ciro Immobile made his comeback after more than three weeks out with a thigh strain, hoping to play more in Sunday’s showdown with Juventus.
Monza poured forward in stoppages, but Gianluca Caprari’s header was off target.
Lazio 1-0 Monza
Romero 69 (L)