Lazio stun Napoli in their own den for seismic win in Serie A

Lazio stunned Napoli 2-1 at the Diego Maradona stadium on Saturday evening for their first win of the new Serie A season.   

Goals from Luis Alberto and Daichi Kamada canceled out Piotr Zielinski’s equalizer as Lazio earned a huge victory.

It was the reigning champions, though, who started the better of the two sides, dominating proceedings with their attacking buildups and controlled possession in the middle of the pitch.

The hosts had two golden opportunities in the first twenty minutes but were unlucky not to open the scoring.

First Victor Osimhen’s powerful header just missed the target before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s fierce shot from distance was brilliantly saved by Ivan Provedel in the Lazio goal.

Lazio surprised Napoli by taking their chances

However, much against the run of play, the visitors took the lead in the 30^th minute. Felipe Anderson did brilliantly to evade Piotr Zielinski in the middle of the park to find Luis Alberto in the penalty box, who slotted past Alex Meret in the Napoli goal with a cheeky backheel finish.

Napoli, however, responded immediately. Zielinski restored parity for the hosts when his long-range deflected on its way into the bottom left corner. Neither side could grab the go-ahead goal as they went into the break.

The second half, however, was all Lazio. The visitors restored their lead seven minutes after the restart. New signing Daichi Kamada found the bottom right corner from Anderson’s cross from the right wing.

Maurizio Saari’s side then had two goals disallowed due to offside after VAR intervention.

First, it was Mattia Zaccagni was judged to have drifted just offside before his finely taken finish. Just five minutes later new signing Matteo Guendouzi scored with a wonderful effort, but his joy was short-lived.

VAR once again intervened to rule the goal out as this time. It was Zaccagni who had strayed too far as Luis Alberto’s through ball was played.

Napoli did pile up the pressure in the last ten minutes but Rudi Garcia’s side looked shades of their former self as they lost 2-1 in front of their home crowd. The victory also was Lazio’s first against Napoli, beating the defending champions in their own backyard for the first time in over eight decades.  

Photo credit: IMAGO / LaPresse