Coppa Italia 2018/19 Tactical Analysis: Atalanta vs Lazio

Despite their performance throughout the Serie A season, Atalanta failed to bring the Coppa Italia home, after a 0-2 defeat by Lazio. I Biancocelesti managed to take advantage of a couple of their opportunities and scored twice in a short period of time making it impossible for Atalanta to bounce back.

Both managers stuck to their preferred formations and didn’t take any risk to be surprised. Gian Piero Gasperini might have made the wrong decision keeping all of his three substitutions till the last ten minutes and using them right after conceding their first goal.

Lazio surprised defensively as mixed with the lack of good finish from their opponents managed to keep a clean sheet. The team have not been in their best defensive shape conceding 40 goals in Serie A while scoring 52.

In this tactical analysis, we will look into how Lazio stopped the in-form Atalanta and put their hands on the Coppa Italia.

Lineups

Atalanta went out in a 3-4-1-2 formation with Pierluigi Gollini in goal. As back-three, Gasperini relied on Andrea Masiello, José Luis Palomino and Berat Djimsiti. Hans Hateboer and Timothy Castagne had a wing-back role on both sides, with Remo Freuler and Marten de Roon operating in the central midfield. Up front were Alejandro Gómez, Josip Iličić and Duván Zapata who were trying to rotate positions.

For Lazio Simone Inzaghi chose the 3-5-2 (3-1-4-1-1) formation with Thomas Strakosha at the goalkeeping spot. A three-man defensive line of Luiz Felipe, Francesco Acerbi and Bastos was topped by Lucas Leiva in the defensive midfield as the pivot of the team. Leiva was surrounded by Adam Marušić, Marco Parolo, Luis Alberto and Senad Lulić in the midfield area. Joaquín Correa and Ciro Immobile were positioned in the final third, with Immobile being in a more advanced position.