Lazio secured a narrow 1:0 victory over Genoa in Serie A's second round at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday evening. D. Frattesi's goal in the twenty-fifth minute proved decisive in a contest where neither side could quite find their rhythm. The result leaves the hosts ninth in the table with 54 points from 38 games, while Genoa remain sixteenth on 41 points.
It was Frattesi who ended a barren spell, finding the net just past the quarter-hour mark. The finish came after Lazio had worked the ball into dangerous areas, and by then the home side's growing confidence was showing. Genoa's defender L. Ostigard had already picked up a yellow card in the fourteenth minute, a sign of the pressure building early.
There were plenty of bodies on the pitch as both managers reshuffled their options. Genoa made four changes around the hour mark, bringing on N. Tavares, M. Cancellieri and Vitinha alongside D. Sow. Lazio responded with their own wave of substitutions, J. Vasquez and T. Baldanzi coming on in the seventy-eighth minute, followed by B. Dia and R. Floriani.
And here's the thing about the statistics — Lazio dominated possession at 54 per cent for the visitors, yet it was the hosts who created more. Expected goals told the same story: 1.55 to 0.58. Lazio registered two shots on target from ten attempts, while Genoa managed just one from five. To be fair, both sides struggled to cut through the final third.
What mattered in the end were the moments that counted. Lazio's keeper made one save, as did his counterpart for Genoa. Four yellow cards were shown in total, including two late cautions for M. Zaccagni and Amorim as the game ran out. The home side held their nerve when it mattered most.
