Klose’s injury time goal secure victory for Lazio

Posted on October 18, 2011 by SoccerPunter

Miroslav Klose scored 20 seconds from the end of injury time to hand Lazio derby honours in a 2-1 victory over Roma on a dreadful day of Italian Serie A football on Sunday that saw five out of seven matches finish goalless.

Only three out of 14 teams managed to find the net in a weekend that produced just 14 goals, three less than the previous worst this season.

On Sunday alone there were just five goals in seven games, the other nine being scored in the three matches on Saturday.

But the derby at least provided some drama, albeit controversially.

Pablo Osvaldo had given Roma a fifth minute lead after scoring for the fourth game in a row.

But Simon Kjaer was sent off for bringing down Christian Brocchi in the box and Brazilian Hernanes equalised from the spot before Klose tucked home the late winner.

The opening goal was impressive as Miralem Pjanic took a pass from Fernando Gago and dinked the ball over the Lazio defence for Osvaldo to stride onto and cooly slot home.

But just five minutes into the second half Kjaer tugged at Brocchi’s arm as he ran into the box and although he let go quickly, the Lazio midfielder plunged to the ground.

A penalty was a certainty but the red card seemed harsh for the Denmark centre-back.

Lazio went on to dominate as Klose sent a header against the bar and Djibril Cisse crashed a brilliant volley against the post.

But deep into injury time Roma caved in as Francesco Matuzalem found Klose in the box and his precise finish beat Maarten Stekelenburg.

Bologna were the only other side to score as they won 2-0 at Novara to climb off the foot of the table.

However, that wasn’t enough to drag them out of the bottom three as they remain behind Inter Milan on goal difference.

No team has won more than half of their six matches so far, leaving Juventus ahead of Udinese on goals scored at the top.

Juve were held at Chievo while Udinese finished with 10 men as they failed to overcome Atalanta.

In the second half Juve substitute Alessandro Del Piero rose unmarked to head against the Chievo post.

He was also in the thick of the action at the other end when he hacked clear an effort from Sergio Pellissier that was trickling towards the line.

Juve coach Antonio Conte was nonetheless satisfied with his team.

“I’m bitter about the result but I can say nothing to my team as they were the ones driving the match,” he said.

“They played with the right approach and a good attitude from everyone.

“We had a lot of players come back from international duty and some of them were feeling the effects.

“I’m still happy with our efforts. Chievo are an excellent team as they’re showing in the standings, they’re very physical and cover the pitch well.

“And we weren’t at risk of anything. We needed to open the scoring, which didn’t happen and in these situations it’s not unusual to concede.”

On Saturday Inter’s crisis deepened as they lost for the fourth time in six league games this season in a 2-1 reverse at Catania, leaving them fourth from bottom.

It was also their sixth defeat in nine matches in all competitions, including August’s Italian Supercup, while they also have the worst defence in the league having conceded 13 goals.

AC Milan, however, got back to winning ways as they thumped Palermo 3-0 at the San Siro.

Napoli failed to keep pace at the top as they fell to a shock 2-1 defeat at home to Parma, dropping them to fourth.

Italian Serie A results:

Cesena 0 Fiorentina 0
Atalanta 0 Udinese 0
Cagliari 0 Siena 0
Chievo 0 Juventus 0
Genoa 0 Lecce 0
Novara 0 Bologna 2
Lazio 2 Roma 1