Empoli condemned Lazio to a 1-0 defeat at the Stadio Carlo Castellani for their Sunday afternoon Serie A fixture.
Lorenzo Tonelli gave the Azzurri an early lead, and despite overwhelming pressure, survived the attacking bombardment from Lazio.
The Tuscans took a surprise lead after five minutes from a corner. The delivery from Leandro Paredes found an unmarked Lorenzo Tonelli, who met the ball full flight with a wonderful diving header.
Lazio tried desperately to respond quickly, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic had a strike from distance, but easily gathered by Lukasz Skorupski. A similar chance fell to Filip Djordjevic, who also saw it plucked out of the air by the Empoli goalkeeper.
Marco Parolo was next to try his luck, trying to catch Skorupski out with a strike from distance, but the Roma loanee anticipated the attempt. Massimo Maccarone had one final attempt for Empoli before half time, dispossessing Wesley Hoedt and curling it toward the far corner, but not curling enough and it went just wide.
Stefan Radu started the new offence on the Empoli goal in the second half, coming close with a blistering effort, Skorupski equal to it. The Polish keeper was called on again, denying Djordjevic brilliantly who struck the ball on the half-volley from close range.
Substitute striker Miroslav Klose was certain he’d levelled the score, but the referee judged the German to have kicked the ball out of the hands of Skorupski; replays casting doubt on his decision. The pair would duel again shortly after, Klose coming close to sneaking it into the corner at the back post, but again Skorupski stopped him with a reflex save.
Lazio were left angered by the decisions of referee Michael Fabbri, who once again deemed Klose to be offside when he tapped it into an open goal, right before the final whistle.
