Alessio Romagnoli admits making his childhood dream come true by scoring a goal in the Lazio jersey was ‘wonderful’ and he’s keeping the shirt.
The former Milan, Roma and Sampdoria defender has never disguised the fact he has been a lifelong Lazio supporter, so jumped at the chance to join them as a free agent over the summer.
He broke his duck in real style during the 4-0 victory over Spezia, a sensational volley that any striker would be proud of, let along a centre-back, and rushed to celebrate under the Curva Nord, where he used to stand as a child.
“It was wonderful, wonderful. It was about time I scored, as I had some half-chances before,” Romagnoli told Sky Sport Italia.
“It was not an easy game, especially in the second half, but we played well. I kept the jersey from the first half, especially as it had my blood on it, but I gave away the one I wore after the break.”
Lazio celebrated their third consecutive victory, all of them with clean sheets, so has Romagnoli been the figure they were looking for to consolidate that defence?
“We are a team, we play as a team, defend as a team, work hard during the week and watch many videos to learn where we can improve.”
The Biancocelesti have won five of their eight Serie A games, are temporarily in second place with the second best defensive record and second most prolific attack. Are they being ignored for the Scudetto?
“I think it’s early to talk about positions. We are aiming for the top four and we’ll see what happens.”
Yes I’ll say it again: underrated. What a gem of a goal and I have a feeling that there is more to come.
With so many games ahead I can see Luka Romero coming on and firing up…