Lazio’s great start in the Europa League

Lazio made the best possible debut in the new Europa League, overwhelming Dynamo Kiev away. On neutral ground in Hamburg, the Biancocelesti won 3-0 with a brace from Dia and a goal from Dele-Bashiru. Three points straight away for Marco Baroni in his first ever European coaching role. Just over four minutes on the clock and the Biancocelesti immediately take the lead thanks to a flash from Dia served by Pedro and good at beating the goalkeeper with a right-footed shot placed in the penalty area. Having immediately found the goal, the team from the capital tries to slow down the pace, never suffering the timid attempts of reaction of the Ukrainians.

Just past the half hour mark, in the blink of an eye, Lazio put together a tremendous one-two with Dele-Bashiru and again Dia (a brace), already giving the decisive acceleration to the match. The only real dangers posed by Dinamo to Provedel were Brazhko’s free kick and Yarmolenko’s shot at the end of the half: the Lazio goalkeeper was decisive with two excellent saves. In the second half the pace slowed down considerably, Baroni’s team controlled without problems and shortly after the hour mark came close to scoring four goals several times in a few moments: Pedro hit the post with a deflection by the goalkeeper, Isaksen was blocked on the line and Dia found a defender’s deflection on a shot that was sure to go. At the end, it was only worth mentioning the two expulsions, one for each team, suffered by the new entrants Bragaru (a stamp on Zaccagni punished by the VAR) and Noslin (an elbow to an opponent).