Anderlecht 3-1 Lazio: Biancocelesti suffer demoralising defeat in Brussels

Date: 19th July 2015 at 8:07pm
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Lazio were beaten 3-1 by Belgian side Anderlecht in a pre-season friendly game at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium in Brussels on Sunday evening.

Three first half Anderlecht goals from Idrissa Sylla, Guillaume Gillet and Matias Suarez were enough to defeat Lazio, as Filip Djordjevic’s late goal served only as a consolation.

The hosts started the game brightly and had a chance to go front in the very first minute after, but Lazio goalkeeper Etrit Berisha made a brilliant save to deny Suarez’s smart effort on goal.

The home side dominated possession early in the game, and took a deserved lead in the 19th minute through Guinean forward Sylla’s cool finish.

The Mauves continued to attack with high pace, and were paid for their intensity once again when the Belgian midfielder Gillet doubled the lead six minutes later.

On the half an hour mark, Youri Tielemans played a smart through ball to Sylla, but Berisha put up a fine dive to deny the forward’s effort.

However, four minutes later, Suarez converted a penalty to treble the lead for the home side, after Dennis Praet had been fouled inside the box.

Lazio had their first effort on goal in the 38th minute, but Antonio Candreva’s free-kick went just wide off the post.

Anderlecht continued to build up their intensity towards the end of the first half, and had chances to increase their lead through Praet and Tielemans efforts on goals, but Berisha made a couple of good saves to give a slim hope of Lazio comeback.

Lazio made a change at half time, with Federico Marchetti replacing Berisha.

Anderelecht made a strong start to the second half, playing beautiful dominant possession football. Steven Defour had a long-range shot on goal inside the opening five minutes, but the ball went well wide off the post.

Moments later, the home side had couple of chances to increase the lead through Tielemans and Defour, but Marchetti produced good saves to deny the opponents’ efforts.

Midway through the second half, Lazio changed the entire team, with just Edson Braafheid remaining from the starting line-up.

In the 70th minute, Belgian forward Nathan Kabasele had a great chance to give the home side a four-goal lead, but his shot from inside the box went just wide.

When ten minutes left on the clock, Lazio forward Filip Djordjevic pulled one back for the visitors to bring slight hopes of comback, but it served as nothing more than a consolation.

 

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