Lazio’s defensive frailties were exposed once again as worrying errors saw them fall to a 4-1 defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt in Europa League action.
As they have been on too many occasions this season, they were slack at the back in slumping to a convincing defeat, one which was compounded by red cards to Dusan Basta and Joaquin Correa.
Danny da Costa, Filip Kostic and Luka Jovic were among the goals for the home side as Lazio shipped at least three for the second straight game, in addition to keeping just two clean sheets in all competitions this season.
It took just three minutes for Frankfurt to make the most of the Aquile’s uncertainty at the back when a corner from the left found Da Costa completely unmarked in the six hard box to emphatically volley home via the crossbar.
After that frustration that has marred the season so far for Simone Inzaghi’s men, they responded well and Ciro Immobile whistled a shot just wide before the visitors deservedly equalised midway through the half.
Lazio broke at devastating pace through Joaquin Correa and he showed a calm ahead to wait for help from Parolo and picked the midfielder out to calmly stroke home.
However, just five minutes later, Lazio’s defensive issues cropped up yet again as both Wallace and Lucas Leiva were at fault for being unable to clear the ball before it made its way to Kostic inside the area to finish with aplomb.
Before the break, Lazio could perhaps count themselves lucky that Eintracht weren’t given the ideal opportunity to make it three when Mijat Gacinovic was bundled over by Dusan Basta in the area but the referee waved play on, although the former Udinese man wasn’t reprieved for long and soon picked up a second yellow card which left his team with a mountain to climb.
There would be no grand scaling of that mountain in the second half as Lazio were left at base camp just seven minutes into the second half when the 10 men were caught cold on a quick counter-attack, which was capped off by Jovic calmly chipping the ball home.
Things got even worse for Lazio when a frustrated Correa reacted to the situation by leaving his mark on Jonathan De Guzman with a nasty late challenge which he saw red for.
In the final minute of injury time, the Biancocelesti’s night was rounded off miserably when Da Costa ended the game as he started it – with a close range volley under no pressure.
SERBIANS TAKE CENTRE STAGE
It was all about the nation of Serbia at the Commerzbank-Arena. For the home side, Kostic and Jovic both scored, while Gacinovic provided an assist and more disappointingly for the Aquile, their Serbian defender Basta didn’t even make it to half-time as he was sent off against many of his compatriots.
DISCIPLINARY PROBLEMS
Basta should have known much better being an experienced professional than to give the referee a decision to make just before half-time in an area of the field he didn’t need to make a challenge in. Correa appeared flabbergasted and close to tears at the referee’s decision to send him off but his tackle was late, reckless and unnecessary. Poor decision making from both which proved costly.
