Despite their 11 consecutive Serie A match win streak, Lazio failed to defend their Coppa Italia after falling victim to an early Napoli opener. David Ospina was one of the heroes in his team’s 1-0 win by saving all of Lazio’s shots on target and leaving them with a sour taste.
After an intense opening 35 minutes, both teams saw themselves fall short to 10 men. Napoli lost Elseid Hysaj due to him seeing red early on, but Lazio’s Lucas Leiva received a second yellow card six minutes later to make it even again.
Despite the injuries to some of his most valuable players, Gattuso made the needed changes in order to keep the lead. The team conceded lots of shots to the second-most effective attack in Serie A, but fought back and with Ospina’s help, kept the clean sheet till the end.
This tactical analysis aims to break down how Napoli’s tactics in an effort to keep the lead and what made it that difficult for Lazio to find the net.
Lineups
Both teams’ formations didn’t last long due to the two red cards. They did initially start in the coaches’ most favoured formations.
Gattuso lined up the team in 4-3-3 with David Ospina on the goal. The back-four contained Mário Rui, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Konstantinos Manolas and Elseid Hysaj. Piotr Zieliński, Diego Demme and Stanislav Lobotka formed the midfield trio. They supported the frontline of Lorenzo Insigne, Arkadiusz Milik and José Callejón.
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