Verona vs. Lazio: Score, Grades and Reaction from Serie A Game

Lazio missed the chance to make it five wins in a row in Serie A as they were held to a 1-1 draw with Verona on Thursday evening.

Lazio, who would have moved within four points of league leaders Juventus with a win at the Bentegodi, took the lead towards the end of the first half thanks to Senad Lulic’s close-range finish, and appeared to be in control of the contest until Luis Pedro Cavanda got his positioning all wrong and pulled back Juanito Gomez inside the box midway through the second half.

The defender received a second booking for the foul, with Luca Toni making no mistake from the subsequent penalty.

Despite being down to 10 men, Lazio continued to push forward in search of victory in the closing stages, although the better of what few chances were created instead fell to the hosts. None of them hit the target, however, with both sides eventually forced to settle for a share of the points.

The result leaves Lazio third in the table, level on points with AC Milan, Sampdoria and Udinese after nine games. Verona remain 11th, one point behind Fiorentina and a spot in the top 10.

Afterwards Toni told Sky Sports (via journalist Gianluca Di Marzio's website):

"

It was important to get a good result after two defeats. It was a tough game. Lazio are a great team, they impressed me and played well.

My goal was important because we need points. It was good to score. We will get ready for Cesena [in the next game] and I’ll try to score again.

"

"

Serie A: Lulic goal... Verona 0-1 Lazio https://t.co/DmRvBJFyR5

— Football News Alert (@Footy_Layne24) October 30, 2014"

In the end it was two defensive mistakes that decided the contest, with Lazio the first to benefit but proving unable to hold on until the final whistle.

The game did not start in particularly inspiring fashion, with neither side really finding a rhythm until the half-time break was almost in sight. Lazio enjoyed the majority of the possession but struggled to turn that into any clear-cut goalscoring opportunities, with Lulic and Antonio Candreva both guilty of being a bit careless with their final pass.

The home side, in contrast, spent less time on the ball but occasionally threatened to do more with it—with veteran striker Luca Toni only denied the opener by the linesman’s flag; replays showed he was just marginally offside before latching on to a lofted through ball and lashing it into the back of the net.

That moment aside, Verona’s only shot of the first half came from a far less likely source: holding midfielder Panagiotis Tachtsidis giving Federico Marchetti a scare as his speculative effort from fully 50 yards drifted only a yard wide of the goalkeeper’s far post.

With half-time just five minutes away, however, the deadlock was finally broken—although it was a hellish defensive mistake that caused it.

There appeared to be little danger when Candreva, who moments before had seen a good shooting opportunity blocked out by Alessandro Agostini, swung in another poor low cross from the right, until covering defender Vangelis Moras completely missed his attempted clearance.

That allowed Lulic to steal in at the far post, the Bosnian converting an easy chance from mere yards out with aplomb.

Felice Calabro'/Associated Press

That seemed to spark the game into life, with both teams returning for the second half with far more intent about their play. Lazio were again the first side to make an impression, with Candreva nearly claiming another fortuitous assist as his inswinging cross saw substitute Frederik Sorensen almost head past his own goalkeeper.

Verona then created a couple of half-chances, both of which fell to Toni. The former Italy international volleyed the first narrowly wide from an acute angle, before moments later sending an off-balance header marginally over Marchetti’s crossbar.

At that moment Lazio seemed to be flagging slightly—Cavanda picking up a booking for a rash challenge on Gomez, the other of Verona’s half-time introductions. But they soon resumed a certain control of the contest, with Marco Parolo and Candreva both forcing Rafael into action with long-distance strikes.

With 25 minutes remaining, however, the game turned on its head. Lazio appeared to be in relative control until Cavanda misjudged a rather aimless high ball into the box, getting on the wrong side of Gomez as the forward threatened to get a shot off at goal. The defender pulled back the forward inside the box and gave the referee little choice but to point to the spot.

Cavanda, having previously been booked, was duly dismissed—with Toni making no mistake from 12 yards.

The numerical imbalance seemed to embolden the hosts, although Lazio commendably resisted the temptation to sit deep and protect a point, instead pushing forward as much as possible.

Creating chances proved difficult for the Rome side, however, with Candreva’s wayward final pass returning and substitutes Felipe Anderson and Alvaro Gonzalez struggling to impose themselves on the game.

Verona, with the benefit of the additional man, had better luck creating openings—although they found hitting the target a similarly difficult task. Simonsen failed to hit the target with a headed chance, while Gomez angered Toni as he slashed a poor shot wide of the target from an acute angle.

Nicolas Lopez then took matters into his own hands, cutting in from the left before hitting a low right-footed shot that Marchetti got down quickly to stop.

In the closing minutes there was to be no final clear-cut chance, with Verona’s Gustavo Campanharo perhaps lucky not to join Cavanda in enduring an early bath after making a lunging challenge on Candreva just moments after being booked for a cynical challenge on Felipe Anderson.

The referee allowed that challenge to slide, much to the annoyance of the Lazio players, but the rest of the game would pass without incident—a draw perhaps a fair result of the previous 90 minutes, all things considered.

Dino Panato/Getty Images

Player Ratings

Player	Rating
Rafael	6
Rafael Marquez	6
Vangelis Moras	6
Alessandro Agostini	7
Ivan Martic	6
Emil Hallfredsson	7
Gustavo Campanharo	6
Panagiotis Tachtsidis	7
Luca Toni	7
Bosko Jankovic	7
Nicolas Lopez	6
Substitutions
Frederik Sorensen	7
Juanito Gomez	7
Artur Ionita	6

Player	Rating
Federico Marchetti	6
Michael Ciani	6
Stefan de Vrij	7
Stefan Radu	6
Luis Cavanda	5
Marco Parolo	6
Lucas Biglia	7
Ogenyi Onazi	6
Antonio Candreva	7
Senad Lulic	6
Filip Djordjevic	6
Substitutions
Felipe Anderson	6
Artur Gonzalez	6
Miroslav Klose	n/a

What's Next?

Verona's next engagement is again in Serie A, as they visit Cesena on Monday. Lazio also play that day, hosting Cagliari at the Stadio Olimpico.