Milan woes continue as Lazio dominates in 4-0 win

  • by Sebastian Oliveira
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Lazio exacted complete control over a depleted Milan Tuesday night in the Stadio Olimpico, putting on their best performance so far this season in a strong 4-0 victory. The win lifts Le Aquile to third in the Serie A table, one point behind Milan, firmly in the race for Champions League qualification.


The hosts took no time getting started. Felipe Anderson – in at forward to replace the injured Ciro Imobile – dropped back into the midfield to gather the ball and recycle it out to a streaking Matia Zaccagni on the left wing. 

As the Italian midfielder took advantage of the space out wide, Lazio sent a barrage of four runners into the box, exploiting the spaces left empty between the Milan defensive and midfield lines. Zaccagni sent the low cross along the top of the box, where Luis Alberto and Anderson each deceptively let the ball roll straight to the feet of Sergej Milkovic-Savic who opened the scoring. 


The captain’s first time finish set the tone for the match within the first four minutes. Lazio’s proactive movement within the middle and attacking thirds were too much for Milan to handle. The lack of cohesion was apparent, and presented a common theme for the reigning champions throughout the night. 

The disconnect radiated throughout the entire Milan squad. Despite splitting possession evenly throughout the night, the teams could not have been more different when in control of the ball.

Milan attacking duo Olivier Giroud and Rafael Leão stayed high and fairly inactive throughout the first half, forcing midfielders Brahim Diaz and Sandro Tonali to either fight through the Lazio midfield or send long balls over the top. Neither avenue found any success, thanks to a combination of rigid positioning and running out of passing lanes as opposed to creating them. 

On the other hand, Lazio were much more fluid, providing the player on the ball multiple passing options. They turned an intense and compact defensive press into an unpredictable and exhausting attack that would wreak havoc on the weary Milan defense. 

Lazio doubled their lead in the 38th minute with another well worked team goal. Pedro – yes, that Pedro – found himself in space on the right wing not two minutes after creating a vintage chance on the other side. The former Barcelona and Chelsea man played a perfectly timed ball in behind Milan right back Sergino Dest, who was outpaced and outmuscled by a Lazio fullback Adam Marusic in his own box. Marusic latched onto Pedro’s pass in stride and fired a shot off the far post, ricocheting towards a crashing Zaccagni, who’s faintest of touches was just strong enough to bundle into the back of the net and double Lazio’s lead.

Zaccagni nearly had his second in the final minutes of the first half. Foreshadowing their second half gameplan, Lazio lulled Milan into a mistake and sprung the midfielder in behind the back line. Had it not been for a resilient Simon Kjaer tackle Lazio would’ve taken a 3-0 lead into halftime. 

Milan came out of the break with a glimpse of the response you would expect from a title defending side. The investment of more bodies into intentional presses and passing lanes provided a small spark. However, the possession they kept never culminated into organized moves, and the execution of passing was just off enough to kill any potential attacks before they could even start. Stefano Pioli saw enough 10 minutes into the second half, replacing all but Leão in the front four in hopes that fresh legs could generate some momentum.

This marked the beginning of the period where Milan held their most significant portion of possession, which Lazio seemed more than happy to concede. The casual press restricted Milan to areas where they couldn’t pose much of a threat, and otherwise laid back waiting for mistakes to pounce on. 

And that’s exactly what happened in the 65th minute. 

Anderson chased down an errant pass from midfield in acres of space down the left wing. The over hit pass seemed destined to be collected by Milan goalie Cipirian Taparusanu, and the lack of immediate urgency from his backline suggested they expected that of him as well.
The Romanian keeper stayed put, giving Anderson all the time in the world to get on the end of the pass and calibrate his next move. He ultimately decided on a hard and low driven cross to a sprinting Pedro, who was fouled by Pierre Kalulu when trying to shoot. Luis Alberto buried the resulting penalty kick with ease, growing Lazio’s advantage to an insurmountable height.

From then on, Lazio maintained that casual control quite easily. Milan’s attack, while still keen, was rendered predictable. Lazio were aware of which spaces to engage and which to contain, and as a team anticipated Milan’s every move going forward. 

The icing on the Lazio victory cake came in the 75th minute. Zaccagni won the ball on the left wing for the umpteenth time, sending a cross into Alberto at the top of the Milan box. The Spanish midfielder danced through two defenders before slipping a simple yet defense splitting pass to Anderson, who somehow found himself all alone at the penalty spot with a chance that seemed harder to miss. A tidy finish into the bottom corner later and the Stadio Olimpico erupted for the fourth time and fourth different goal scorer on the day. 

The ease with which they walked the ball into the net while being outnumbered by frantic Milan defenders epitomizes the fashion with which Lazio maintained total control of the match from beginning to end. It was like a scrimmage between varsity and JV. 

The match petered out to the inevitable result, one that had a few implications at the top of the Serie A table.

The loss leaves Milan 12 points off of first place Napoli, providing the league leaders even more runway in an already impressive title run. Meanwhile, the three points lift Lazio into third, sitting high in a set of five teams, who are all within three points of each other, fighting for two Champions League spots.

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Sebastian Oliveira