It’s been seven years since Lazio kept a clean sheet in their first home game of the league season, and with all the upheaval experienced by the club during pre-season, it was perhaps no surprise to see that run extended after just three minutes here.
Nicolo Rovella lost control of a Venezia throw-in, allowing Magnus Kofod Andersen to pounce and curl a delicious strike into the top corner, well beyond the reach of Ivan Provedel.
One of the summer changes for Lazio was the loss of talismanic striker Ciro Immobile, but Taty Castellanos proved his value as a replacement by pickpocketing Michael Svoboda and burying a one-on-one chance to restore parity just minutes later.
The hosts assumed full control of possession after that, and it was only a matter of time before Castellanos produced more fireworks. He missed his first couple of chances, including a close-range header which sailed just wide, but the Argentine had referee Paride Tremolada pointing to the spot when he was fouled in meeting Tijjani Noslin’s cross by Svoboda.
Mattia Zaccagni stepped up to slot the spot-kick into the bottom-right corner, and there was time before the break for Lazio to threaten again, but neither Fisayo Dele-Bashiru nor Adam Marusic could find a way past Venezia stopper Jesse Joronen.
A response would have been expected from Eusebio Di Francesco’s men following the restart, yet Lazio remained on the front foot and were unfortunate not to extend their lead when Castellanos’ shot was deflected towards the top corner, but Joronen extended to tip onto the woodwork.
Substitute Ridgeciano Haps then poked wide from a clear chance of his own making for the visitors, a miss which his side came to rue with 10 minutes remaining as Lazio put themselves out of sight.
Matteo Guendouzi’s inch-perfect through ball was slid across the face of goal by Manuel Lazzari, and Giorgio Altare added to a calamitous Venezia defensive display by deflecting into his own net.
Castellanos hit the post in the closing stages as the hosts ultimately failed to add some extra gloss to the scoreline. Regardless, the sky-blue half of Rome will be hoping that Lazio can use this positive start as a springboard to go closer to their second-placed finish of 2022/23 than last season’s seventh.
Venezia, meanwhile, can’t be discouraged with seven wins from their last 10 Serie B games to end the last campaign indicating that they have the tools to avoid a repeat of their last spell in the top-flight.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Fisayo Dele-Bashiru (Lazio)
