Lazio Join AC Milan in the Champions League Zone Hunt

DBasia.news –  Lazio under the direction of Simone Inzaghi won an important 2-0 victory over Udinese in the 32nd Week Serie A match on Thursday (18/4) early morning Western Indonesian Time. That victory kept Lazio’s hopes of entering the Champions League zone.

Lazio are currently ranked seventh with 52 points and three points adrift of AC Milan in fourth place.  The two teams above Lazio are AS Roma (54 points) and Atalanta (53 points). That fact shows the excitement of the fight for the Champions League zone.

Lazio and Udinese both dropped 3-5-2 at the Stadio Olimpico.  Inzaghi relies on the duet of Felipe Caiceco with Ciro Immobile up front.  While Igor Tudor, Udinese coach, installed Rodrigo De Paul and Kevin Lassagna as the spearhead in front.

The match ran tight in the first 20 minutes of the match.  Possesion of the ball is relatively balanced between the two teams until finally the goal was created in minute 21. Two Lazio strikers worked together and ended with Caicedo’s goal receiving an assist from Caicedo.

The momentum continued and the second goal was created in just three minutes from the first goal.  This time the Udinese midfielder, Sandro, was unlucky in a football game in his team’s 16-meter area and broke into Juan Musso’s goal. The 2-0 score lasted until halftime.

Francesco Acerbi, Lazio defender, was supposed to score right at the end of the first half.  But after seeing the VAR replay (Video Assistant Referee), the referee annulled it because Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, who gave the ball to the Acerbi, did a handball.

Udinese had a chance to reduce the drop at the start of the second half via the white spot after a violation of Senad Lulic to De Paul.  Unfortunately, kicking De Paul can be saved by Thomas Strakosha.

After the opportunity, Udinese only totaled three kicks on target from 19 and none of them scored a goal.  While Lazio has 18 attempted kicks and seven of them are on target.

The victory was enough to keep Lazio’s hopes of pursuing fourth place in Serie A. While Udinese still had to fight away from the relegation zone.  They are in the 16th place with 32 points and three points adrift of Empoli who are ranked 18th in the standings.

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