PLAYOFFS
LAZIO 1 – GENOA 3
LAZIO Renzetti 7.5, Ferrari 6, Ercoli 5.5 (16’st Gelli 6.5), Barone 6, Bordoni 5.5, Silvestri 6 (31’st Proromo 5.5), Cuzzarella 5.5, Paolocci 6 (31’st Curzi 5.5), Di Gianni 5.5, Serra 5.5 (31’st Battisti 5.5), Ilas 5.5 (14’st Milano 6) BENCH Bosi, Di Venosa, Urbano, Plutnik TRAINER You punch
GENOA Boschi 7, Venturino 6.5, Ahanor 7.5, Deseri 6.5, Arata 6.5 (38’st Marvaj sv), Barry 6.5, Dodde 6.5, Fazio 6 (35’st Grossi 6), Akhator 7, Romano 7 (50’st Corengia sv) , Carbone 6.5 (50’st Nuredini sv) BENCH Ceppi, Gheorgievski, Ghinassi, Lattari, Sancinito TRAINER I roll it
MARKERS Ahanor 14’st and 22’st (G), Gelli 33’st pen. (L), Akhator46’st (G)
REFEREE Zito di Rossano 6 ASSISTANTS Tagliaferro and Napolitano from Caserta
NOTES Missed penalty At the 13th minute Romano (G) hits the post, at the 28th minute Boschi (G) saves on Serra Expelled Nobody Warned Fazio, Ilas, Romano, Carbone Angles 5–7 Offside 1–0 Rec. 2’pt, 5’st
The adventure ends in the first round Lazio in the play-offs: at the Borghesiana mister Punzi’s boys lose 1-3 with the Genoa. A game that thrives on flurries in the first half, with the guests building dangerous counterattacks more than the Biancocelesti’s initiatives. The proof again in the 8th minute, when Akhator’s escape from midfield ends with an imprecise left-footed shot that slips to Renzetti’s left. Lazio’s response came in the quarter of an hour, when an action on the left by Serra ended with a dangerous cross into the middle on which Barry anticipated the onrushing Di Gianni, favoring Boschi’s intervention. But, as mentioned, it is Genoa who create the greatest dangers, aware that they only have victory available to proceed towards the semi-finals. In the 17th minute Venturino runs to the right and serves Romano on the line, whose beautiful right-footed shot is intercepted in the bottom corner by a great dive to the right by Renzetti, who did well to respond to the rossoblù number 10 again in the 38th minute, this time with a rebound plastic on his left. In the middle, another restart by Genoa orchestrated by Carbone and not finalized by Akhator (33′) with a diagonal shot just wide and, above all, the header by Carbone himself from a cross from the right by Akhator which ended up on the post (35′) . At the end of the half, Lazio were seen again in their offensive projection, with a nice move by Serra on the right which ended with a perfect cross for the onrushing Paolocci, whose header however found great opposition from Boschi. The second half began again in the name of Genoa, who forced Renzetti to make a double intervention following a corner kick, with the Biancoceleste goalkeeper lowering the shutter again first on Doddi and then on Akhator. The rossoblù’s push shows no signs of abating and in the 12th minute Bordoni’s handball arrives on Fazio’s shot, which still arrived after a melee originating from a corner: Romano appears on the spot but hits the post to the right of Renzetti. The Genoa celebration, however, is only postponed, given that the close range shot arrives on the developments of the corner Ahanor which gives the Ligurians the advantage. Lazio fails to react and 10 minutes later they double the score Ahanor, inserted perfectly at the far post on a free kick kicked from the left by Romano. Just before the half hour mark, Lazio had the great opportunity to reopen the match with the penalty won by Serra, who however was hypnotized from eleven meters by Boschi who protected his team’s double advantage. After another great intervention by Renzetti on a free kick from the usual Romano, Lazio equalized on a penalty kick, with the substitute Gelli who this time displaces Boschi and puts his team back in the game. In the final, however, it was Genoa who pushed again, with the very chance wasted by Venturino in the 44th minute after a nice lunge from Akhator on the right and, at the start of injury time, with the same Akhator to finalize a counterattack he started for the final 1-3.
