Ranieri: “We played well but our final ball was lacking”

It’s now 16 years since Sampdoria last beat Lazio away, with the annual trip to the Olimpico having become a veritable hoodoo fixture. Claudio Ranieri’s side left empty-handed once again but with pride intact after giving the hosts a run for their money.

“We played really well but weren’t able to get a goal as our final ball was lacking,” the coach admitted.

“In the second half we were by far the better side but had nothing to show for it and [Pepe] Reina didn’t actually have any saves to make.”

The Blucerchiati may not have had a shot on target but the stats suggest it was a hard-fought encounter.

“I thought the lads were excellent today,” Ranieri continued. “They broke the deadlock from a mistake of ours but afterwards we were superior. They had a few counter-attacks but we nearly always played them offside. The problem was we couldn’t get numbers into the box.”