Simone Inzaghi finished Sunday night with a torn pair of trousers. The Lazio manager had been in perpetual motion through the final minutes of Lazio’s game against Inter, running the touchline with such bellicose vigour that you half expected him to leap into a sliding challenge at any moment. When a ball came out to Milan Skriniar on the near side of the pitch, Inzaghi was quicker to him than any defender.
Lazio were on the cusp of another landmark victory in a season that has known a few. Inzaghi’s team beat Juventus 3-1 twice in the space of 15 days at the end of 2019, the second of those landing them the Supercoppa. They won 11 consecutive league games from October into January, shattering the club record of nine.
The deeper into a season you get, however, the weightier these results become. When the final whistle went on Sunday, allowing Inzaghi to charge the field at last, it felt as though we had entered a new chapter. Lazio’s 2-1 win had moved them into second place, above Inter and just one point behind Juventus. No longer could anyone deny they were competing for the title.
Inzaghi acknowledged as much before the night was through. “Looking at the table, it’s normal to talk about it,” he said. “We know the progress we’ve made these past few years. Now we need to stay there, recognising that every Sunday can set you up for a fall.”
Lazio looked in danger of suffering one this weekend, after Ashley Young volleyed Inter ahead in the 44th minute. It had been a close-fought first half, with both teams fashioning chances, but to fall behind so close to the interval might have derailed a less confident side. As the teams entered the tunnel, almost 10,000 away fans at the Stadio Olimpico were making themselves heard.
Inzaghi, though, felt no need to chastise his players. “We played the first half with such a certainty that we were going to win that a few inevitable counter-attacks were inevitable,” he reflected. “I praised the team anyway, telling them that if we kept it up, we would have a chance to turn things around.”
It was an easy sermon to preach, to a room that had been here and done it before. Lazio conceded the first goal in their league win over Juventus, too. Against Atalanta, in October, they were 3-0 down after 68 minutes, and came back to draw 3-3.
“Two things are certain in life,” posted Sergej Milinkovic-Savic on Instagram last month. “Death, and Lazio never giving up.” For him, at least, these are not just hollow words. Milinkovic-Savic had scored the goal that got Lazio in front against Juventus, and he would repeat the trick on Sunday.
First came an equaliser gift-wrapped by Inter. Skriniar lunged to intercept a ball into the box, sending it up into the air. Inter’s goalkeeper, Daniele Padelli, came late off his line and tripped over his teammate’s leg. Diego Godín had a chance to head the ball clear but timed his jump poorly and allowed Milinkovic-Savic to knock it down. Stefan De Vrij then went into the back of Ciro Immobile.
The striker made the most of the contact, and another referee might have dismissed appeals for a penalty. This one, Gianluca Rocchi, had a clear view and pointed to the spot. De Vrij did clearly put his hands on Immobile before their feet got tangled, so there was no chance of VAR overturning the decision. Immobile converted for his 26th goal of this campaign.
Lazio’s supporters enjoyed this moment all the more for seeing De Vrij brought low. Nobody had forgotten his infamous final game for the club, in which he gave away a penalty that helped Inter – the team he had already agreed to join – to leapfrog the Biancocelesti into Serie A’s last Champions League spot.
Still, their second goal was more artful. Adam Marusic’s volley from a corner was cleared off the line by Marcelo Brozovic, but broke to Milinkovic-Savic near the penalty spot. Romelu Lukaku was closing in fast, but the Serbian dragged the ball away under his heel as he turned to place a shot into the bottom corner.
It was majestic technique from Milinkovic-Savic, reminding us yet again that his 6ft 3in frame is no hindrance to doing work in tight spaces, and also a fitting reward for another colossal performance in the middle of the park.
Lazio’s rise this season is a triumph of the collective, rather than any individual, yet his return to top form has been a key piece of the puzzle. Named as Serie A’s Midfielder of the Year last season, Milinkovic-Savic was nevertheless widely perceived to have had a disappointing campaign. He himself commented in May – shortly before winning the award – that he was unsatisfied with his performances.
A player who had been valued – very loudly – at over €100m by Lazio’s owner, Claudio Lotito, the previous summer no longer seemed to have the attention of any club who might stump up such a sum. Perhaps that was for the best. Lazio’s gain is obvious, but Milinkovic-Savic is profiting, too, from the opportunity to develop in a team that has enjoyed extraordinary continuity in its playing staff, under a manager who is emerging as one as Italy’s best.
Together, they have a chance to make history. Lazio last won the Scudetto in 1999-2000, under Sven-Göran Eriksson. Like Rome, that triumph was not built in a day. It was a season earlier that the Swede established their now-broken record of nine consecutive Serie A wins, on the way to a second-place finish.
A runners-up spot this season would hardly qualify as a disappointment for Lazio, whose priority has always been simply to make it back into the Champions League after more than a decade away. Still, the opportunity to do something greater is becoming very real. Lazio cannot hide their title ambition, any more than Inzaghi could the hole in his trousers.
The Guardian Sport
