Lazio defeated Pescara 2-0 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome in Serie A action Monday evening.
Two first half blockbusters from Stefan Radu and Senad Lulic sealed the win for the Biancocelesti, who hardly seemed troubled by the Delfini over the 90 minutes.
Abdoulay Konko picked up a knock just minutes into the match for the hosts and was replaced by January purchase Bruno Pereirinha at right-back.
Cristian Ledesma audaciously went for goal from a free-kick 35 yards out, but the Argentine’s effort sailed over the crossbar.
Emmanuel Cascione claimed the first opportunity of the day for the Delfini, his shot from distance deflecting off of Andre Dias and straight into the arms of Federico Marchetti.
Lulic was twice off target from promising positions, whilst Hernanes’ daisy cutter whizzed just past the far post.
On 29 minutes the Aquile broke the deadlock after a sustained period of possession, Radu hitting a searing strike inside the near post from outside the area from Lulic’s lay-off.
Cascione fired on goal from the edge of the box after some tenacious work by Birkir Bjarnason, but went wide of the mark.
Soon after the Aquile were celebrating once again, Lulic bursting forward to unleash a howitzer from 20 yards that cracked off the bottom of the crossbar and into the net.
Ledesma gave away a free-kick 20 yards out with a sliding challenge, but Elvis Abbruscato failed to take advantage of the opportunity in smashing his effort into the wall.
After the halftime restart, Candreva was off target from distance, whilst Gianluca Caprari came on for Abbruscato for Pescara in Cristiano Bergodi’s first change of the evening.
Floccari sprung the offside trap to go in on goal unabated, but shot straight at Ivan Pelizzoli as the chance went begging.
Alvaro Gonzalez made way for Ogenyi Onazi, whilst Milton Caraglio replaced Mervan Celik on the other side and immediately flashed a header just wide from a corner.
Dias misplayed a pass in defence to allow Caraglio to get behind the Lazio back line, but recovered in time to dispossess the 24 year-old striker.
Vladimir Petkovic introduced Ederson on 82 minutes for Candreva to round out the hosts’ substitutions for the day.
Floccari just barely failed to reach Ederson’s cross at full stretch, while Onazi fired directly into Pelizzoli’s arms from long range.
Giuseppe Sculli made a late cameo for Pescara against his parent club, coming on for Cascione on 87 minutes.
With the victory, Lazio move back into third place in the Serie A table on 47 points, two ahead of nearest competitor AC Milan.
You can follow Ian Capasso on Twitter: @capasso10
