Lazio’s deserved victory in Naples came as a relief to Maurizio Sarri and represented the first setback for Rudi Garcia
Maurizio Sarri came armed, as he always does, with the perfect Tuscan saying for the occasion. “Like I hear people say in Florence, c’è il pane e la sassata,” he told Dazn as Lazio prepared to kick off against Napoli. There’s bread, and then there’s being hit by a rock. A colourful way of expressing the feeling that life is only ever perfect or a complete disaster, with no middle ground in between.
His team had taken a few boulders to the face lately. Lazio’s best player, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, left to join Al-Hilal in the summer. Then they lost their opening two games of the new season to Lecce and newly-promoted Genoa. It was not the start Lazio had hoped for after finishing as runners-up last season. When players went to acknowledge supporters in the Stadio Olimpico’s Curva Nord at the end of the latter defeat, they were met with demands to “show some balls”.
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