Club profile: Lazio
Lazio recorded their best Serie A finish in 23 years last season.
Le Aquile finished second — behind runaway leaders Napoli — and made huge strides forward under Maurizio Sarri.
The Rome-based club have not won a Scudetto since 1999-2000, a long wait that seemed likely to continue for many more years until very recently.
Now, though, fans are beginning to dream again. Ahead of a new Serie A campaign, we take a closer look at Lazio’s development with Sarri at the helm.
Shrewd Sarri
Former Napoli and Chelsea boss Sarri has overseen significant improvement since his arrival at Lazio in the summer of 2021.
I Biancocelesti finished fifth in Sarri’s first season, scoring 77 goals, conceding 58 and accumulating 64 points.
A year on, Lazio have matured into a solid defensive unit, letting in just 30 goals and finishing 10 points better off despite scoring fewer (60).
Sarri’s team have become masters of controlling the tempo of a game — only Napoli completed more passes than Lazio’s 17,105 in Serie A last season.
Room for improvement
Despite the positivity surrounding the team after 2022-23, some of the numbers suggest there is still work to do.
Only Salernitana had a higher xG overperformance in Serie A than Lazio (9.74), with creativity occasionally lacking compared to the likes of Napoli and Inter.
Ciro Immobile’s goal return was evidence of this — he scored just 12 league goals, a significant drop-off from his tally of 27 the previous season.
Lazio were also the lowest scorers in the top five and will likely need to be more effective in attack if they are to challenge for the title this season.
Discipline
Though Lazio might have sacrificed an element of attacking fluidity last season, their supreme organisation was notable.
Sarri’s side attempted by far the most pressing duels of any side in Serie A (2,061) and collectively ran more than any other team in the division (718,307m).
That discipline and commitment has been key to their impressive showings, with Sarri’s demands driving up standards and giving Lazio an edge in a division where matches are often decided by fine margins.
With no clear favourite for the Scudetto again in 2023-24, another season of improvement could make Lazio contenders.
Transfer problems
An issue facing Lazio is an apparent lack of transfer funds as they prepare to fight on two fronts in Serie A and the Champions League.
Influential midfielder Sergej Milinković-Savić has been sold to Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal for €40m and a replacement has not been brought in as yet.
That has led to ‘tension’ between Sarri and club president Claudio Lotito, with striker Taty Castellanos the only high-profile addition of the summer so far.
Milinković-Savić’s absence will certainly be felt — the Serbia international ranked highest in the team for assists (seven), successful defensive actions (273) and aerial duels won (95).
Key players
With Milinković-Savić gone, Luis Alberto will take on even more responsibility in midfield.
The Spaniard completed a team-high 1,554 passes last season and assisted more shots than any other Lazio player (59).
Winger Mattia Zaccagni also emerged as a key man last season, scoring 10 Serie A goals and providing six assists.
The 28-year-old completed more dribbles than any of his team-mates (156) and attempted the most crosses for Lazio (72).
Former West Ham player Felipe Anderson is another who plays an important role both in and out of possession, scoring nine league goals last season but also ranking first in the team for defensive duels won (135).
Looking forward
Pre-season has not ended as Lazio might have hoped, with a 3-0 defeat to Aston Villa and 2-1 loss against Girona reportedly leaving Sarri frustrated with his players.
With a few weeks of the transfer window remaining, making the right additions could be significant as Le Aquile aim to build on last season’s second-place finish and compete in the Champions League.
The former Juventus boss admitted at the end of last season that achieving a runners-up finish had been difficult.
“I think it’s more difficult to finish second with Lazio than to win the Europa League with Juventus,” he said. “Maybe Napoli had an easier journey comparatively, very few difficulties came up.
“Here, on the other hand, the journey has been long, and I hope there is room to go even further.”
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