© EuroFootball.com
In the 33rd round of the Central Italian "Serie A" championship on Sunday evening, the mid-table team of Rome's Lazio clashed with Turin's Juventus, who are fighting for the title. Juventus, aiming to regain the championship lead, secured victory over P. Nedved's late goal.
0 - 1
85' [0 - 1] Pavel Nedved
Before this match, the "Old Lady" already knew that in their match, "Milan" defeated the "Parma" team and moved ahead by three points. Therefore, the injury and disqualifications-hit Turin team needed a victory, which they last achieved at the Rome Olympic Stadium six years ago.
At the beginning of the match, Juventus coach F. Capello had to replace the injured team captain A. Del Piero - R. Oliveira took his place on the field, leaving M. Zalayeta as the only striker for the Turin team.
Meanwhile, Lazio started the match more actively and threatened the opponents' goal twice with L. Zauri's breakthroughs on the left side, but initially his pass was intercepted by the defender, and later P. Di Canio failed to reach the ball. The visitors responded with R. Oliveira's not very dangerous shot on goal and M. Zalayeta's attempt, which was blocked by the goalkeeper.
The tension was growing, and the referee started handing out yellow cards, and just before the break, after a push from L. Thuram in the penalty area, E. Filippini fell but no penalty kick was awarded. The teams went to rest with two zeros on the scoreboard.
Lazio had to substitute their goalkeeper during the break, as A. Peruzzi could no longer play due to a knee injury, and they had to send in their third-choice goalkeeper, F. Casazza, who struggled to get into the game - he immediately made a mistake by shooting straight at the opponent, but luckily the ball passed by the goal.
In the other half of the field, a good opportunity was missed by F. Bazzani, who shot too weakly and did not cause any problems for G. Buffon. Shortly after, G. Buffon almost made a mistake, but somehow managed to outsmart the opponent's forward in his penalty area.
Juventus gradually took the initiative and tried to break through Lazio's defense with long shots - first Casazza saved P. Nedved's attempt with his chest, and later he caught G. Zambrotto's shot. The hosts responded with an inaccurate shot from F. Bazzani from the edge of the penalty area.
With five minutes left to play, former Lazio player P. Nedved received a pass from M. Zalayeta, headed the ball in the penalty area, deceived two defenders, and shot accurately into the far corner of the goal - Juventus took the lead thanks to the individual skill of the Czech defender.
However, the match was not over yet, as shortly after, G. Buffon had to save a powerful penalty kick from M. Oddo from 35 meters. Lazio still tried to press the opponents, but for some reason, the match referee decided to add only one minute of stoppage time, during which the visitors managed to hold on and secure a hard-fought victory.
