Lazio edge Bologna as Frattesi makes immediate impact

Gennaro Gattuso began his tenure at Lazio with a win as they secured a 1-0 victory away from home courtesy of a goal from summer signing and Italy international Davide Frattesi.

Gattuso, who had suffered a defeat in the Coppa Italia, had gone into his first Serie A game in charge of Lazio at the Dall’Ara on Monday evening with the hope of making a positive start, and that has happened.

However, it was the other way for  Domenico Tedesco, who is also on the touchline for his first competitive match in charge of Bologna.

The end-to-end and evenly-contested affair in the first half at the Dall’Ara was lacking in quality in either final third. The half-time stats told the story: both shared a 47:54 spread of possession, four shots for Bologna, five for Lazio but only one apiece on target, neither of which was particularly threatening in the first interval.

The match also had petty fouls which had an impact on the first half, with five yellow cards dished out before the interval, and Bologna head coach Tedesco was sent off in his first Serie A match in charge of the Rossoblu for his excessive complaints on the touchline.

Lazio got the first chance when Zaccagni squeezed a shot just wide of the post from the left-hand side of the area while Piccoli briefly threatened down at the other end with a swiveling half-volley from an awkward corner delivery. 

Bologna showed their threat as well when Nadir Zortea’s shot had an enormous deflection off Oliver Provstgaard that completely wrong-footed Christos Mandas in goal, which brought relief as it bounced behind for a corner.

The visitors eventually recorded their first shot on target from a tamely-hit Pedraza shot from the edge of the area, which caused no issue at all for Lukasz Skorupski. 

Bologna went close at the start of the second half, but Christos Mandas showed  his quality as Lewis Ferguson delivered the cross after a short, quick corner from Juan Miranda, and the goalie pulled out an excellent save at full stretch to stop Jens Odgaard’s header, which would have otherwise ended up in the bottom corner of the net.

Lazio then got in front through substitute Frattesi, who recently joined on loan with a buy option from Inter, four minutes after his introduction with what was his first shot of the game, and his first in a competitive match for the Rome club. 

Boulaye Dia sent the midfielder through on goal with a flick around the corner, and Frattesi made no mistake in dispatching past Skorupski with a first-time finish. 

The closest the hosts got to leveling the tie was a Federico Bernardeschi free-kick, which was tipped onto the post by the fingertip of the impressive Mandas.

The victory takes Lazio to joint-sixth spot in the Serie A standings, while Bologna end the opening weekend in joint-15th.