Lazio are on a roll with their fourth win in five Serie A games, as Patric and Matias Vecino got the better of relegation strugglers Empoli to stay in the European race.
Coach Igor Tudor left Luis Alberto at home over disciplinary issues and was missing injured Mario Gila, with Ivan Provedel still not ready in goal. The visitors were still without Sebastian Walukiewicz, Alberto Cerri and Tyronne Ebuehi.
See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.
Lazio wore special jerseys and welcomed the heroes of 1974 before kick-off to mark the 50th anniversary of their first Scudetto.
Ciccio Caputo had the ball in the net after 17 minutes, but was clearly offside on the Matteo Cancellieri pass when going one-on-one with Christos Mandas, while Simone Bastoni curled just over after pouncing on a Daichi Kamada error.
Ciro Immobile completed a give and go to burst into the box, but Elia Caprile did enough to steer him wide without contact.
Ardian Ismajli should’ve done better when turning his diving header over from a corner, but Empoli had a huge opportunity when Matteo Guendouzi gave it away, Cancellieri nutmegged Alessio Romagnoli and rolled across for Caputo, forcing a stunning Mandas reaction save.
Moments later, Immobile sprung the offside trap and tested Caprile at the near post, but the visitors twice fired just over with Razvan Marin from the edge of the area.
However, it was Lazio who took the lead with the last kick of the half, as a Mattia Zaccagni corner found Patric surprisingly unmarked to flick in off the outside of the boot from a couple of yards at the near post.
Pinpoint from Mattia Zaccagni 📌
Up from the back, Patric fires Lazio into the lead against Empoli…
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— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 12, 2024
Felipe Anderson’s attempt was deflected over and Matias Vecino fired wide on the counter-attack, while Kamada blasted straight at Caprile.
Mandas had to make a fantastic reaction save to fingertip the Shpendi header off the line at the back post, but Lazio doubled their lead soon after when Vecino finished off the passing move left to right, meeting Pedro’s pass to surge through the centre.
Matías Vecino all but wraps up a home win for Lazio 🎁
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/7usRJd6tKf
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 12, 2024
The last kick of the game was a wonderful Jacopo Fazzini free kick that Mandas flew to fingertip out of the near top corner.
Lazio 2-0 Empoli
Patric 45 (L), Vecino 89 (L)
Player statistic
| Patric (Assist: Mattia Zaccagni) |
 |
45+3' |
| 73' |  |
Emmanuel Gyasi | ||
| Manuel Lazzari | |
78' | ||
| Nicolò Rovella | |
86' | ||
| Matías Vecino (Assist: Pedro) |
|
89' | ||
| Alessio Romagnoli | |
90+6' |
Match statistic
