Lazio back to winning ways with comfortable win over Genoa
Clear favourites after a run of five wins in six games overall, Marco Baroni’s men started on the front foot, though clear chances weren’t immediately forthcoming. Nuno Tavares unleashed a rocket from the edge of the box, but could only send the ball soaring over the bar.
A Lazio opener always felt like it was in the air though, and Tavares played his role in the hosts getting it, finding Noslin on the left flank before the Dutchman danced into the area past three defenders and side-footed past Nicola Leali into the far corner.
There were no clear signs of Genoa mounting a response as the first half wore on, with Gustav Isaksen seeing an effort blocked out for a corner, from which Taty Castellanos sent the ball wide of the left post.
And Tavares once more tried his luck from range, but missed again, ensuring that Genoa had some minor hope of repeating last weekend’s heroics, in which they came back from a deficit to grasp a point by scoring twice in the final 20 minutes.
Morten Thorsby clearly wasn’t content to wait that long for a response, sending a shot from the edge of the area wide shortly after the restart. Castellanos then blazed a far better chance over from inside the box. The Argentine forward finally managed to get an effort on target just after the hour mark, but after beating two defenders to set himself up for a shot inside the area, Leali made a routine save.
Almost on cue, both managers made double substitutions with the deployment of Matias Vecino in place of Boulaye Dia showing intent to galvanise the midfield and secure a first run of successive clean sheets since January. Pedro also took to the field after his midweek strike against Twente, which had kept up his 100% record from goal-contributing games across all competitions this term.
Showing no signs of slowing up in the face of a continental and domestic battle on two fronts, Pedro added to that record in the 86th minute, when he benefited from a rebound inside the box and gleefully rifled the ball low inside the left post. It was a comfortable success for Lazio in the end – made even more so with the final play of the day, with Vecino heading in from a Tavares corner deep into injury time. While Genoa remain marooned inside the bottom three on a single win, the Roman outfit are now level on points with fourth-placed Atalanta.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Tijjani Noslin (Lazio)
