Lazio wasted chances to consolidate their lead and then fell to pieces in the second half, as Antonio Candreva, Federico Fazio and Boulaye Dia gave Salernitana an astounding victory, while Sergej Milinkovic-Savic will miss Roma.
Up until the final minute of December 31, 2021, both clubs were owned by Claudio Lotito, but he was forced to sell under the threat of having Salernitana thrown out of Serie A, as the rules forbid one person from running two clubs in the same division. Ciro Immobile was still out injured, so Felipe Anderson stepped in as False 9, while the visitors missed Giulio Maggiore with Dia only fit for the bench. Milinkovic-Savic was rested, as he’s one yellow card away from a ban ahead of the Derby della Capitale.
Mattia Zaccagni blasted over from a Felipe Anderson lay-off, but Salernitana immediately lost Norbert Gyomber to a hamstring strain.
Felipe Anderson had the ball in the net, but only after he was caught offside on a long Danilo Cataldi ball over the top.
Zaccagni’s header was smothered from a Luis Alberto corner, but Pedro went so close when he surprised Federico Fazio with a stepover and the angled drive clipped the outside edge of the far post.
Lazio finally broke the deadlock when Zaccagni ran on to a perfectly-weighted Luis Alberto through ball and drilled it through the legs of the on-rushing goalkeeper from a tricky angle.
It should’ve been 2-0 at the dawn of the second half, but Matias Vecino fired straight at Luigi Sepe from point-blank range on a Felipe Anderson knockdown.
Salernitana ended Lazio’s run of six consecutive Serie A clean sheets at 620 minutes with a magnificent finish. Candreva had a wonderful first touch to control the Domagoj Bradaric ball over the top, let it bounce and placed the lob into the far top corner.
Cataldi had to clear under pressure when Bonazzoli almost forced Provedel into an error playing out from the back, then the goalkeeper got one glove to a Lassana Coulibaly strike.
Zaccagni came close too, dribbling between two defenders to force a tricky save at the near post, but Salernitana turned the game around completely.
Candreva’s cross from the right was only flicked on and fell to Federico Fazio, the former Roma defender smashing in from 14 yards relatively undisturbed.
It became wide open, as Ivan Radovanovic fired wide on the counter and Matias Vecino missed a huge opportunity when snatching at his shot on the turn.
It got even worse for Lazio, because having left him on the bench initially to avoid a yellow card, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic came on and received a very, very harsh booking for running into Dylan Bronn. That means he will be suspended for next week’s Rome Derby.
Salernitana then struck for a third time on the counter-attack, as Krzysztof Piatek won back the ball in midfield and Bradaric rolled across from the left for Boulaye Dia to slide in at the back post.
Lazio had conceded five Serie A goals all season before three in one go, while the last time Salernitana scored three away goals in the top flight was in February 1999 against Empoli.
Provedel had to make two saves on Tonny Vilhena in the final minutes, as Lazio totally lost their shape.
Lazio 1-3 Salernitana
Zaccagni 41 (L), Candreva 52 (S), Fazio 68 (S), Dia 76 (S)