NEW DELHI: In a dramatic twist, Ciro Immobile's last-minute penalty secured Lazio a 1-0 victory over Fiorentina at Stadio Olimpico on Monday, thwarting Vincenzo Italiano's team's ambitions of a top-four position in Serie A.
Lazio's captain, Immobile, calmly slotted the ball into the left corner of the net during stoppage time, deceiving Fiorentina's goalkeeper Pietro Terracciano. The penalty was awarded to Lazio after Fiorentina's Nikola Milenkovic handled the ball.
Fiorentina currently occupy the sixth spot in the standings with 17 points, just one point behind the reigning champions, Napoli, who are in fifth place. They are also two points adrift of fourth-placed Atalanta, who secured a 3-0 victory over Empoli earlier on Monday.
Lazio, with this win, climbed to the seventh position in the standings, tallying 16 points. Inter Milan lead the Serie A table with 25 points from 10 matches.
Lazio's coach, Maurizio Sarri, commented on the challenging nature of the match, saying, "The match was tough, difficult, as was easily predictable. They perhaps did better than us in the first half, but in the second (half) we legitimised the result because we created some scoring opportunities and conceded practically nothing."
Fiorentina's recent acquisition, Lucas Beltran, believed he had given the visitors the lead with his first Serie A goal in the 13th minute, but his effort was disallowed due to a handball.
Felipe Anderson had an excellent opportunity to break the deadlock for Lazio just before the hour mark, but his close-range shot was brilliantly saved by Terracciano.
Fiorentina's coach, Italiano, expressed frustration with the result, stating, "Naivety costs us dearly, we rack up another defeat and it makes me angry. We could have achieved much more in the last two games."
Fiorentina has struggled on their travels to Lazio, failing to win any of their last eight Serie A away matches against them, with six losses and two draws.
Lazio's next fixture is an away match against Bologna on Friday, while Fiorentina will face second-placed Juventus on Sunday.
(With Reuters inputs)
