Maurizio Sarri’s men showed grit and perseverance to bounce back from their 3-0 loss in the Rome derby. They defeated Sassuolo 2-1 and are still involved in the race for the European places.
Midfielders Manuel Lazzari and Sergej Milinkovic–Savic scored two goals in two halves to seal the win and take Sarri’s side to the fifth spot in the Serie A table.
“We showed from the first minute that this was not the same team we saw in the derby. “We want to finish in the top four, I know it will be difficult but we’re going to try.”
Milinkovic-Savic told DAZN.
Lazio are currently on 52 points having played 31 matches, and will have some work to do in order to get into the Champions League spots. They trail Juventus in fourth by seven points, having played a game more.
2021/22 Serie A top 8
| # | Team | Matches played | Goal difference | Points |
| 1 | AC Milan | 30 | +27 | 66 |
| 2 | Napoli | 30 | +31 | 63 |
| 3 | Inter Milan | 29 | +38 | 60 |
| 4 | Juventus | 30 | +21 | 59 |
| 5 | Lazio | 31 | +14 | 52 |
| 6 | Atalanta | 29 | +20 | 51 |
| 7 | AS Roma | 30 | +15 | 51 |
| 8 | ACF Fiorentina | 30 | +11 | 50 |
The 3-0 battering at the hands of Roma as well as the large hailstones which thumped down on the city affected the crowd turnout as less than 20,000 people showed up for the first match at the Stadio Olimpico since grounds were allowed to fully open to the public for the first time in two years.
However, for the people that did turn up, it proved to be an interesting and entertaining affair. It had been billed as the battle between the two Italian strikers – Lazio captain Ciro Immobile and Sassuolo’s Gianluca Scamacca. However, neither of them could influence the match to a large degree.
Instead, it was Lazarri who opened the scoring in the 17th minute after pouncing on a misplaced pass and finishing with aplomb. Milinkovic-Savic made sure of the win with 50 minutes remaining, and although Hamed Traore pulled a goal back for Sassuolo, his 94th-minute strike proved little more than a consolation.
