ROME – Ciro, the only (small) glimmer of hope. It’s difficult to find positive aspects in a match which, if it didn’t make the Champions League dream impossible, made it even more complicated than it already was. Immobile’s goal, however, at least gives us hope in terms of recovering the best version of Lazio’s all-time top scorer. The same one who has experienced difficult moments in recent weeks, playing at levels not up to his past and seeing himself overshadowed by the new coach Igor Tudor.
Immobile’s smile after the goal
A situation that generated some inevitable intolerance, but which the coach – after the conversation with his player – tried to “heal” by relaunching him as a starter in Monza. In return he got the goal that broke the deadlock, the Torre Annunziata striker’s 207th number in the Biancoceleste (his personal 201st in Serie A). The captain of Lazio (who mediated the discussion with the fans at the end of the match) was in the right place on Di Gregorio’s rebound after Kamada’s fireball and as a good predator of the penalty area he placed the ball into the goal. So he broke a fast that had lasted 84 days in the championship (from 10 February in Cagliari), so he found his smile again and so he raised his prices for this final rush: «I’m happy for Ciro. He was in the race, he cared about it. And he scored an important goal. He needs to regain his condition, we hope to have him like this for the next three matches”, said Tudor at the end of the match. A sign that on the coach’s part there is a desire to find the real Immobile, also because having him at his maximum potential would mean a lot in terms of the last three games to be played before concluding this season.
Lazio, the point on the infirmary
His race towards a new starting shirt against Empoli will start again on Tuesday, when the resumption of training is scheduled. At the beginning of the week, as explained by the team doctor Fabio Rodia on Lazio Style Radio, a check will be carried out Mario Gila, to «precisely quantify recovery times. At the moment the re-education protocol is progressing, everything is going well.” Apart from the Spanish defender, there are no critical issues from an infirmary point of view. Provedel was already on the bench yesterday and from a medical point of view it is a “solved case”. No problem for Felipe Anderson either, replaced by Tudor in the second half only «due to cramps. Nothing that can be traced back to previous ailments. It was just a precaution.”
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