Lazio 1 – 1 Sampdoria

Sampdoria remained 2nd in the table after an evenly fought draw in the Capital.

Lazio started the game the stronger of the two.

Mauro Zarate was looking sharp, he produced a wonderful run through the Sampdoria defence, only for Lucchini to block his shot.

Moments later he produced another moment of class as he tricked his was through the Samp back-line, this time laying it off to Matuzalem, who fired wide.

At the other end Cassano forced a fine one handed save from Nando Muslera after a mazy run.

Sampdoria were starting to put on the pressure and they were rewarded just before the break. Some good work from Cassano played in Pazzini, who spread the ball wide to Marco Padalino, who swung in a neat cross for Pazzini to power the header into the bottom right hand corner.

The lead was short lived though, some sloppy defending from Sampdoria allowed Francelino Matuzalem to get onto the end of a Tomasso Rocchi’s flick-on and fired the ball low past Luca Castellazzi.

In the 2nd period, Lazio nearly took the lead early on as Rocchi was put through on goal after a great through ball from Stefano Mauri, but the Lazio skipper failed to find a finish.

On the 54th minute things took a turn for the worse for Sampdoria, Marco Padalino dived into a challenge on Aleksander Kolarov and received his 2nd booking and was sent off.

Lazio pushed on after Padalino’s red card, Rocchi had penalty appeals turned down after an apparent push from Marius Stankevicius, then Castellazzi produced a fine save in the six yard box from Matuzalem.

The player count was levelled up on the 75th minute as Roberto Baronio received his 2nd booking of the game.

Sampdoria came back into the game at this point, Cassano almost grabbed a spectacular winner when he smashed a rising drive that came off the cross-bar.

Pazzini was lucky to remain conscious when he was accidentally punched in the face by Muslera, the Sampdoria striker suffered a broken nose and had to be taken off.

As the game was nearing an end, Sampdoria had a clear penalty shout turned down after a blatant shoulder-charge by Diakhite.

Lazio could have also snatched the win, as Zarate setup Julio Cruz but he could only hit his shot at Castellazzi’s legs, it was a poor finish.

Lazio: Muslera; Siviglia (Lichtsteiner 85), Diakite, Cribari, Kolarov; Brocchi, Baronio, Mauri; Matuzalem (Dabo 80); Rocchi (Cruz 80), Zarate

Sampdoria: Castellazzi; Stankevicius, Lucchini, Rossi, Ziegler; Padalino, Palombo, Poli (Zauri 60), Mannini; Pazzini (Pozzi 88), Cassano

Sent off: Padalino 55 (S), Baronio 73 (L)

Ref: Orsato