Lazio vs Siena: preview

Virtus Roma basketball team defeated Montepaschi Siena on Sunday afternoon bringing their 41 games unbeaten run on Italian soil to a halt. Mens Sana was undefeated for 385 days in every Italian competition.
Another fierce encounter will be on stage at the Olimpico on Wednesday night between the cities of Rome and Siena. It won’t be a big match, sure, but it will be the classic six-pointer to avoid relegation – thus providing the attendance with some real thrill.

LAZIO won in Cagliari with a very substantial display. The result never seemed at risk and Cagliari only had a long range shot from Andrea Lazzari superbly saved by Muslera, during the whole 90 minutes. If it wasn’t for goalkeeper Federico Marchetti, the score could have been well 5-0 to Lazio. The absences of Andrea Cossu and Davide Astori were deeply felt for Massimiliano Allegri. Lazio seem to have found team spirit again – the retreat in Norcia providing the backbone of all. “We spent a lot of time together in Norcia” explained captain Tommaso Rocchi who opened the scoring after 200 seconds – “and we talked a lot. The bad period is still not behind us, but we can say we have now taken the right path”. The whole squad agreed that they didn’t need a psychologist and Edy Reja made a point when stating that he wanted to be the only one responsible about the decisions taken for the team’s sake. “Otherwise I’m off”, he declared. This resulted in Director of Football Igli Tare not travelling with the team to Cagliari (he travelled with Lotito instead on the day of the match).
Floccari doubled the lead after a double step-over. He then lifted his t-shirt and showed another one with the words “Ciao Nicotera” waving to his native town in Calabria. As rules stand, he got booked for the gesture. For the first time this season, two strikers delivered the victory. Against Siena Edy Reja will look for his first win at the Olimpico (40,000 is the estimated attendance).
Mauro Zarate and Stefan Radu will both return from suspensions (Giuseppe Biava will serve a one-match ban though), but Sergio Floccari should be ruled out with a groin problem.
Expected line-up (3-5-2): Muslera; Stendardo, Dias, Radu; Lichtsteiner, Brocchi, Ledesma, Mauri, Kolarov; Zarate, Rocchi.

SIENA may be second last in the table, but are third in the last six matches table. They have collected 12 points out of the 18 available and sit just behind AC Milan (14) and Roma (12 - but with a better goal difference) in the form table. Since Alberto Malesani was installed on the bench, the Bianconeri from Tuscany collected 5 wins, 3 draws and 7 losses, bagging 18 of the current 25 points, which is an astonishing 72%. The goals scored are another impressive statistic the new coach is responsible of. Siena netted 11 goals in 13 matches when Giampaolo and Baroni sat on their bench. Under Malesani guidance instead, the attack was just revitalized and piled 20 goals in 15 games (1,3 average). Six of them were scored away at Inter (lost 4-3 at the death after leading twice) and Juventus (3-3 in Istanbul 2005 style). Malesani (whose now superstitious news blackout has been going on since the team inaugurated the positive streak of 3 wins and 3 draws) decided to play an attacking and intriguing football as soon as he set foot in Siena. He switched to a 4-3-3 formation and turned Siena into an attacking force. He thought that it wouldn’t be worth it to wait and get relegated, so he decided to have a try. Normally Siena 4-3-3 formation is a 4-1-4-1 when the team is not in possession. The team even improved defensively having collected 3 clean sheets in the last 5 matches.
It will be a usual emotional return for keeper Gianluca Curci and Aleandro Rosi, who were both nurtured in the Roma youth ranks. Emilson Cribari will be probably welcomed as a hero for him having argued with President Lotito. Siena’s president Massimo Mezzaroma (who became the majority shareholder on January 15th) is the son of Pietro Mezzaroma, who took control of AS Roma both with Franco Sensi back in 1993. More important, Massimo is the cousin of Lotito’s wife (Cristina) – so Lotito is his cousin in-law. The relationship between the two is quite cold though. Massimo Mezzaroma recently declared: "Our survival is worth 10 league titles" and he also offered 2 million euros as a prize for his players in case they succeed in avoiding relegation.
Thanks to some important sponsors (Monte dei Paschi amongst them – Siena inhabitants call the notorious bank “il babbo” – “daddy” for it being able to provide most of the income of the town), Siena Club Fedelissimi, Valdarbia and Corrente Bianconera (three Siena supporters’ clubs) will give the chance to every supporter who will join them to travel to Rome by coach for free for the important match.
Expected line-up (4-1-4-1): Curci; Rosi, Cribari, Pratali, Del Grosso; Codrea (Ekdal?); Reginaldo, Vergassola, Tziolis, Ghezzal; Maccarone.

Mauro Bergonzi (Genoa) will be the referee taking charge of the game. So far this season he has never officiated Siena, but he was the referee for three Lazio games – they all ended in draws: Lazio v Palermo 1-1, Lazio v Bologna 0-0 and Udinese v Lazio 1-1.

Last season Lazio comfortably beat Siena 3-0. Zarate opened the scoring with a curling free-kick, then Rocchi scored twice inside the last 4 minutes. In the past 7 encounters Lazio have beaten Siena 3 times, drawn 4, scoring 14 goals and conceding 7. Thus the Tuscan outfit has never beaten Lazio at the Olimpico.