Lazio 1 Dinamo Bucureşti 1 (August 13, 2007)
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0 commentsThis game likely wasn't such a big deal for how it actually worked out or what the overall consequences will be (a 1-1 draw in a Champions League qualifier can't make that much difference) but for how insanely unlucky it was for the home team, S.S. Lazio. As a fan of A.S. Roma, I'm not particularly fond of Lazio, but I'll back off because of what a tragedy this was for their team.
To begin with, it was an unfortunate result, a draw at home against a likely weaker team, but several factors put the game beyond that. Lazio dominated the game consistently, but in the 21st minute gave up the all-important away goal in this two-legged tournament match-up, scored by Danciulescu of Dinamo Bucharest. This goal can be attributed to the horrific head clash between Sanchez Edmilson Cribari and Radu, which it has been revealed will keep Cribari out for eighteen months due to a fractured cheekbone that reportedly moved his left eye out of position. The goal occurred before Lazio had a chance to replace Cribari, so were playing a man down. Still, Lazio kept former Fiorentina goalkeeper Bogdan Lobont busy. Unfortunately for the Roman club, Lobont had the game of his life.
Endless free kick chances came for Lazio, with Lobont parrying every single one. A siege ensued, but Dinamo's goalie batted everything away. The breakthrough chance finally came in the 37th minute, when a handball in the box gave Lazio a penalty.
But Rocchi's penalty attempt obviously didn't work out well for Lazio either. Lobont continued to make his presence felt. It wasn't until the 54th minute that Lazio would finally equalize with a header from Mutarelli. Afterwards, the same situation continued further, with Lobont saving everything and Lazio getting bad breaks. Valon Behrami was given a red card for a late tackle and Mutarelli also got booked for arguing with the ref about that red card. Mutarelli later received his second yellow and was sent off, leaving Lazio down to nine men. Dinamo also lost a man, but not until the final minute when Goian was sent off. Several complaints were made about the interestingly named Norwegian referee Øvrebø.
So that left Lazio with a draw at home, two men suspended, Cribari, Guglielmo Stendardo, and Stefano Mauri all at least partially injured, and more possibly to come, as the fans caused trouble with the UEFA committee with their racist chants. The Lazio coach Delio Rossi had warned the fans to kept their mouths shut, but a particularly troublesome fan section called the Romanians "gypsies" and racist chants, with five Romanian fans being injured. The appropriate penalty for this would be a ban from European comptetition, meaning that the second leg of this encounter scheduled for August 28th may not even matter.
In conclusion, Lazio's high hopes for getting into group stage competition in the Champions League this year were nearly evaporated, as the club may either lose the next match due to a bad first leg and at least three players out, or may be banned from the competition all together. The match seems well worth reporting due to the extreme lack of fortune for Lazio.
Date
August 13, 2007
