In a captivating match on Saturday, Daichi Kamada clinched a vital victory for Lazio over Napoli, handing them their first defeat in their Serie A title defense with a final score of 2-1 in favor of Lazio.
Japanese midfielder Kamada struck the decisive blow, netting his inaugural goal for Lazio since joining from Eintracht Frankfurt during the summer transfer window. He found the back of the net in the 52nd minute, securing Lazio’s first points of the season.
Luis Alberto was the architect of Lazio’s opening goal in a well-deserved victory, propelling Maurizio Sarri’s team out of the relegation zone and into a mid-table position.
Despite the win, Lazio was unfortunate not to have won by a wider margin at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. They had two more goals, one from Mattia Zaccagni and another from debutant Matteo Guendouzi, both disallowed for offside, further adding to the eventful nature of the match.
“Everyone put themselves on the line… tonight we showed what we could do against the best team in Serie A,” said Luis Alberto to DAZN.
“It wasn’t an easy week for us or for me and this brilliant display helped us to shake off a few things.”
Piotr Zielinski levelled for Napoli almost immediately after Luis Alberto’s 30th-minute opener but the hosts did very little once Kamada put Lazio in front.
Defeat for Rudi Garcia’s team allows AC Milan to stay alone at the top of Serie A thanks to their third straight win, 2-1 at struggling Roma on Friday night.
Doubling satisfying for Lazio is that their impressive win at the home of last season’s Scudetto winners also drops Roma into the bottom three.
Inter Milan can draw level with their local rivals with a home win over Fiorentina on Sunday evening.
In the match between Napoli and Lazio, the former had a strong start but it was the latter who scored first through Luis Alberto’s impressive backheeled finish from close range, following great work from Felipe Anderson down the right.
However, Napoli quickly equalized as Zielinski’s shot was deflected past Ivan Provedel. In the second half, it was Lazio who dominated and Kamada scored his first Serie A goal thanks to another assist from Anderson. Zaccagni also had a chance to extend the lead but was offside before scoring.
Meanwhile, Atalanta defeated Monza 3-0 with Gianluca Scamacca scoring his first goal for the club. Bologna came back from a goal down to beat Cagliari 2-1 while Udinese drew 0-0 with Frosinone.
