This Thursday, Lazio welcomed Cagliari for the end of matchday 35 of the Serie A TIM. At the Stadio Olimpico di Roma, the hosts left with the three points after a 2-1 victory over their opponents. Giovanni Simeone opened the scoring for the visitors, but Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Ciro Immobile guaranteed the three points to the home team.
It was much more than a simple win for Lazio, as they ended a 13-year wait with no Champions League football, and not only that but Immobile surpassed Ronaldo in the Serie A Golden Boot award race.
The first half was slow and boring, being honest. But, with time, the hosts became the brighter side and created a lot of chances. If it wasn’t for goalkeeper Alessio Cragno, they would certainly have opened the scoring with so many opportunities.
Even though they were struggling during most part of the first half, the visitors were the ones to break the deadlock, on their first real chance. At the 44th minute, Artur Ionite delivered to Simeone and the Argentine put the ball into the back of the goal to give his team a small advantage before the half-time.
Already at the beginning of the second half, the hosts found the equalizer with a stunner from Milinkovic-Savic. The Serbian tried from outside the box and hit the top-right corner, with no chances to the goalkeeper.
After that, Lazio kept on putting pressure, obligating once against goalkeeper Cragno to make good saves to avoid more goals. However, he couldn’t stop the second goal at the 60th minute. Immobile received the ball from Luis Alberto and hit into the far corner to complete the hosts’ turnaround. The goal was his 31st on the League, making him currently the top scorer of the Serie A TIM.
The visitors didn’t show at any moment the capacity of leveling the match, with the home team being the one closer to scoring again. However, in the end, the scorer didn’t change and the match ended with a 2-1 win to the hosts.
With the victory, Lazio reached 72 points and secured UEFA Champions League football for the next term. Meanwhile, Cagliari stopped with 42 points, parked at 13th place.