Lazio Roma – Internazionale: Superb Strikes Seal The Win For Lazio In A Subpar Contest (3-1)

The first matchup of the 2022/23 Serie A season pitted two clubs from the country’s biggest cities against one another as Lazio hosted Inter. Both sides had been outshone by their local rivals – Roma and AC Milan respectively – last season, which is something they were certainly keen to avoid this time around. Lazio took an important early step towards that goal with a win in this match, although the action was not always of the highest order.

Tactical analysis and match report by Neel Shelat.

Maurizio Sarri’s first season at Lazio had been relatively underwhelming. They did manage a fifth-placed finish behind the three title-contenders and Juventus, but a gap of over twenty points to the top of the table was larger than they would have liked. Over the summer, they made a couple of exciting additions to their squad but crucially, kept hold of all of their important players, so the expectation around the Stadio Olimpico was that they would improve this season.

Simone Inzaghi was Sarri's predecessor at Lazio and he enjoyed a better first season at Inter as he brought home a Coppa Italia title and seriously challenged Milan for the league title. Between Ivan Perišić and Arturo Vidal among others, Inter did part ways with a few important members of the squad, but those departures were offset by the arrivals of André Onana, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Kristjan Asllani and Raoul Bellanova, along with the return of Romelu Lukaku on loan from Chelsea.

Tactically, neither side has seemed to make any major changes between the seasons. So, Lazio lined up in a 4-3-3 formation with Ivan Provedel in goal behind a back four of Manuel . . .