Lazio v Juve: ADP Brace, Buffon Brilliance

By: Martha | December 15th, 2007

Ew. I just need to get this out of the way: Lazio, sort Tomasso Rocchi’s contract situation out. Now. The guy is involved in every single good thing that happens on the pitch and would chop off limbs if it would help the club win; if you won’t pay him, you deserve to go down. That is all.

I was going to say the scoreline was unfair to Lazio, but then Goran Pandev scored again in injury time, and I suppose 3-2 is actually a reasonable reflection of the match. The first half was end-to-end stuff, with Alex Del Piero celebrating his presence on the pitch (he got someone with the flu to sneeze on Iaquinta) by being involved in every Juve move, while at the other end Lazio were lively and aggressive, not intimidated despite the level of their opposition and their frightening record of unexpectedly thrashing people. Both team had early chances, with the ball flying over the bar at both ends as Stefano Mauri and Giorgio Chiellini both failed to take advantage of space in front of goal.

Juve went ahead off a corner just before the half-hour mark, the ball deflecting in off David Trezeguet who, as we’ve come to expect, didn’t know much about it. Though he was on the pitch the whole match, that was pretty much Trezeguet’s last involvement — it was one of those games for him. (That said, it didn’t matter much, because Del Piero was so sharp he didn’t really need any help.) Unlike they did at Real on Tuesday, Lazio didn’t crumble and instead came right back at Juve, tying the score seven minutes later through a great team move, with Massimo Mutarelli (who finally has his sharpness back after his three game suspension — he was fantastic in the second half) poking a volley through for Pandev to head past Gigi Buffon.

At some point toward the end of the half, Pavel Nedved got a cut on his head, which was pretty awesome — there was blood everywhere, and it made his hair quite a cool color. He got patched up and played on, but ended up being replaced at half by Tiago Mendes who, despite being Claudio Ranieri’s second-choice signing and apparently so terrible he only deserves to play in Coppa Italia matches, managed not to trip over his own feet and give the ball away every time he touched it. In fact, he was pretty good. Who knew? (Whether that turns out to be an add for his departure next month or earns him a bit more playing time is anyone’s guess.)

Tiago or not, Lazio came flying out of the gate in the second half and slowly took control of the match. They really looked awfully good — a far cry from the team they were only two weeks ago, when they could barely rouse themselves to kick the ball against Inter. Pandev and Rocchi were great together, Mutarelli was a beast, and both Mauri and Aleksandar Kolarov grew in stature as the game went along. It didn’t matter, though, because Buffon was absolutely on fire, making one stunning, point-blank save off a Rocchi volley and two others to deny him goals with his head. Every time his defense wobbled (which happened not infrequently), Buffon was there. I hear he’s the best keeper in the world, or something?

At the other end, Del Piero was razor-sharp on the counter which, combined with Buffon’s magic in goal, was all Juve really needed. Twice, 20 minutes apart, he scored nearly identical goals: He stayed onside, took down a long ball, drove toward the touchline, and put the ball past Grandpa Ballotta. The first time he went far post, down low; the second he lifted the ball over the sliding keeper. Both were fantastic, and the second was particularly brutal, coming as it did just after Buffon’s sick save on Rocchi’s volley. Around the goals, Grandpa pulled off a pair of impressive saves of his own, but they weren’t enough, nor was Padev’s injury time consolation goal.

So, for the moment, Juve are tied with Roma, five points behind Inter, while Lazio, despite the loss, must know somewhere in their hearts that they’re on the right track. If that makes anyone feel better after losing at home.