Schick strike not enough as Lazio hold on

A double salvo from Lazio towards the end of the first half condemned Sampdoria to their sixth defeat of the season. A thumping left-foot strike from Patrik Schick was not enough for the hosts as Simone Inzaghi’s side ran out 1-2 winners at the Marassi.

The first half of the game was evenly contested and it was clear to see early on that it would be a hard-fought encounter. Dusan Basta forced Christian Puggioni into a save with a right-foot shot after nine minutes, while Karol Linetty tested Lazio keeper Federico Marchetti soon after.

While Samp were only threatened on handful of occasions in the early stages, Brazilian attacking midfielder Felipe Anderson was proving a menace on the right-hand side of Lazio’s attack.

After a quarter of an hour the Brazilian picked out Ciro Immobile, whose header was collected by the Samp keeper, and five minutes later fired in a dangerous cross which Puggioni did well to deal with.

Anderson played a key role towards the end of the half, when Lazio broke the deadlock. The midfielder played a lofted cross in from the right side, which was met by Sergej Milinkovic. The Lazio man showed great desire to get on the end of the cross and his header made it 0-1 to the visitors.

On the stroke of half-time, Anderson was on hand again to help deliver what proved a decisive blow to the Blucerchiati. The Brazilian crossed from the right, this time producing a low ball, which Marco Parolo diverted into the net with a sliding finish. Puggioni will no doubt think he could have done better.

With Doria trailing by two goals after the break, Marco Giampaolo sent on Dennis Praet in place of Bruno Fernandes. Meanwhile Inzaghi replaced Marchetti with Thomas Strakosha in the Lazio goal.

The Blucerchiati threatened through Luis Muriel who missed a golden chance to open the game up once again, just two minutes into the second period. Going the other way, Anderson continued to trouble the Doria back line and forced Puggioni into yet another save on 52 minutes.

Giampaolo turned to Schick around the hour mark, sending the Czech forward on in place of Edgar Barreto.

Sampdoria struggled to get the goal they so desperately needed to get back into the match, as attempts from Lucas Torreira and Fabio Quagliarella failed to reduce the deficit.

With just under two minutes of normal time to play Schick gave the home side a ray of hope. He made room for a shot outside the area and produced a lovely left-foot strike which the Lazio keeper could not prevent from nestling in the back of the net.

The goal got the Doria faithful up on their feet, but the swell of support was not enough on this occasion, as Lazio held on for all three points.

Sampdoria 1-2 Lazio (HT: 0-2)
Scorers: Milinkovic 40, Parolo 44; Schick 89.

Sampdoria (4-3-1-2): Puggioni; Pereira, Silvestre, Skriniar, Regini; Barreto (Schick 56), Torreira, Linetty (Djuricic 76); Fernandes (Praet 46); Quagliarella, Muriel.
Subs not used: Krapikas, Tozzo, Dodô, Eramo, Alvarez, Krajnc, Palombo, Praet, Cigarini, Budimir.
Coach: Marco Giampaolo.

Lazio (4-3-3): Marchetti (Strakosha 46); Basta, De Vrij, Wallace, Radu; Parolo, Biglia (Keita 65), Milinkovic; F. Anderson (Lukaku 87), Immobile, Lulic.
Subs not used: Vargic, Hoedt, Lukaku, Kishna, Djordjevic, Bastos, Leitner, Lombardi, Murgia.
Coach: Simone Inzaghi.

Referee: Russo (Nola).
Assistants: Vuoto (Livorno) and Fiorito (Salerno).
Fourth official: Lo Cicero (Brescia).
Additional referees: Di Bello (Brindisi) and Di Paolo (Avezzano).
Yellow cards: Radu 48, Regini 53, Biglia 58, Wallace 72,  Parolo 90 and Schick 90+2.
Added time: 1 + 5 minutes.