Luis Maximiano was sent off after just six minutes, but Lazio came back to beat Bologna 2-1 in an incredibly ill-tempered game with Ciro Immobile decisive.
Maurizio Sarri had to do without suspended Mattia Casale and Sofiane Kiyine, while Pedro was injured, but Alessio Romagnoli made his debut in the Aquile shirt. Sinisa Mihajlovic returned to the bench after leukaemia treatment, but new signing Lewis Ferguson had to sit out a two-match ban.
It was an aggressive Lazio start, but also a disastrous one, because Luis Maximiano on his Serie A debut completely misjudged the rush off his line to smother at the feet of Marko Arnautovic and strayed outside the penalty area. As per the rules, that was an automatic red card offence and the hosts were down to 10 men after six minutes. Ivan Provedel came on for Toma Basic.
Ciro Immobile’s angled drive whistled inches wide after going across the face of goal, Manuel Lazzari’s cross was fingertipped off the head of Immobile and Provedel was called into action one-on-one to deny Lorenzo De Silvestri.
Alessio Romagnoli made a mess of his clearance and in an attempt to hoof it away, Mattia Zaccagni accidentally caught Nicola Sansone instead. Marko Arnautovic converted the penalty to put Bologna ahead and was booked for over-celebrating under the Lazio end.
Bologna also went down to 10 men before half-time, as Adama Soumaoro received his second yellow card of the game.
It remained very tense after the break with scuffles breaking out, plenty of bookings and protests on every decision.
Mattia Zaccagni’s strike from outside the box skimmed the far post and Lazio did equalise in chaotic fashion. Lukasz Skorupski at full stretch parried the Lazzari angled drive, it hit Lorenzo De Silvestri and was bouncing into the goal until Immobile made sure on the line.
The next Lazio goal was certainly credited to Immobile, who sprung the offside trap on a Sergej Milinkovic-Savic through ball and beat Skorupski one-on-one with a delicate finish.
Bologna fought back immediately, Provedel parrying a screamer from distance, but Lazio held on for the points in a very ill-tempered game.
Lazio 2-1 Bologna
Arnautovic pen 38 (B), De Silvestri og 68 (L), Immobile 79 (L)
Sent off: Maximiano 6 (L), Soumaoro 45 (B)