Lazio’s Primavera squad raised the Supercoppa for the first time on the strength of a Christopher Oikonomidis goal against Chievo at the Stadio Bentogodi on Wednesday night.
Coach Simone Inzaghi’s men took an early lead inside of 20 minutes when Mamadou Tounkara’s low cross somehow passed through a pair of players and the Australian-born Oikonomidis beat his marker to bury a side-footer.
After falling behind, Chievo made an effort to wrestle control of the match but were thwarted by Lazio’s tactical discipline and only really threatened the goal minutes before the first half whistle but Arthur Yamga’s chance sailed wide.
Ten minutes after the break Lazio had an opportunity to double their lead when it appeared Chievo defender Michelangelo Bertoldi handled the ball in his own area but the referee waived play on.
The Gialloblu had the best opportunities for the remainder of the match but the equalizer evaded the hosts.
Bertoldi was once again involved in the action as his shot hit the post and Chievo nearly scored at the death when the ball fell kindly to Filippo Carraro but Lazio right back Gianluca Pollace made a fabulous recovery run to deny the Flying Donkeys.
“We suffered a bit but we deserved the victory,” Inzaghi told RAI Sport after the match.
“Tonight we recovered after an unfortunate loss [against Bari two weeks ago] and we wrote our name into the history of Lazio.”
The victory helps erase the bitterness of last year’s loss in the Supercoppa when Lazio fell thanks to a brace by Anastasios Donis, including a heartbreaker in stoppage time.
