Lazio conceded five goals in a European game for the first time in 22 years when they lost to Midtjylland and Jerry Mancini looks back on a very poor performance from Maurizio Sarri’s side…
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Lazio were defeated 5-1 by Midtjylland on Thursday evening in the Europa League at MCH Arena. This is the fourth time in the club’s history that they have conceded at least five goals in a European match. The previous times the Biancocelesti allowed five goals was during their 6-0 loss to Lens in 1977, 5-3 to Tenerife in 1996 and 5-2 away to Valencia in April 2000.
This is not the first time where Lazio have failed to show up in a match and put forth a poor performance. Last season, the Biancocelesti suffered several bad defeats after mid-week matches in the Europa League. However, this time their setback came in European competition.Â
“Unfortunately, at times Lazio do not turn up at all and it is even worse in Europe, because we had been making progress on that,” Lazio manager, Maurizio Sarri, stated to Sky Sport Italia.
“We had no humility at all. We thought that we’d fixed this problem, but with this mentality, you’ll get nothing out of your legs.”
It was a horrendous performance from Lazio from the moment they stepped onto the pitch. For the first 25 minutes they held the advantage in possession yet hardly tested Midtjylland’s goalkeeper. Their passes in the final third were poor and mistimed and they delivered very few shots on goal. There was little creativity in their offense. Â
In the 26th minute, the home side got their first scoring opportunity and didn’t disappoint as they converted. From that moment on, Midtjylland didn’t look back as they were clinical and decisive for the rest of the match. They took advantage of several defensive mistakes made by Lazio’s backline. The forwards provided minimal intensity in their attack and the midfield was disjointed and lost possession on several occasions.Â
Sergej Milinkovic-Savic provided the lone goal for Lazio and this was one of the few positive takeaways from this match.Â
Lazio headed into their match versus Midtjylland with two straight impressive performances where they defeated Feyenoord 4-2 in the Europa League and Hellas Verona 2-0 in Serie A. However, with this loss, the club has taken several steps back and will need to regroup for their upcoming match versus Cremonese in Serie A.
After the game, the Lazio players apologized to the fans who traveled to Denmark to watch the club play.Â
“I feel the need to apologize to the supporters who came all the way here from Rome,” Lazio striker, Ciro Immobile, said to Sky Sport Italia.
“Tomorrow, we will watch it all back and figure out what was missing in our performance that could allow for this result.
“Quite simply, we never stepped onto the pitch. We under-estimated the match and you pay for that at this level. We wanted to make a step forward, but instead we took 10 steps back.
“There is more work to be done, we thought that we had found a certain solidity and consistency, but we lost it again.”
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GIFN | Jerry Mancini
