Lazio claw past ten-man Cagliari to go top alone for first time in 16 years
Gustav Isaksen's equaliser and Andrea Pinamonti's late header turned a Cagliari lead into a Lazio win that put the Biancocelesti alone at the Serie A summit.
Lazio came from behind to beat Cagliari 2-1 at the Stadio Olimpico, with Gustav Isaksen and Andrea Pinamonti scoring either side of a red card for Adam Obert to send the hosts top of Serie A on their own, according to Football Italia.
The win was Lazio's fifth in a row and arrived after a week in which they had hammered Sassuolo 6-2, a run that has carried them into sole leadership of the division for the first time in 5,836 days, Football Italia reported.
Maurizio Sarri's side were without Albert Gudmundsson, Nicolò Rovella and Adam Marusic, though Oliver Provstgaard returned to the back line after being rested in midweek. Cagliari, who had lost their previous three matches after a bright start to the season, had Harry Winks back among the substitutes.
Cagliari's transition punished a loose touch
Cagliari's opener on 20 minutes came from exactly the kind of moment a possession-dominant home side has to guard against. Alieu Fadera broke down the right and a ricochet off Reda Belahyane fell kindly for him on the byline, and his pull-back let M'Bala Nzola finish from point-blank range.
It was a goal built on transition rather than sustained pressure, and it came against a Lazio side that would go on to have 74% of the ball to Cagliari's 26%, according to the match statistics reported by Football Italia. The gulf in territorial control makes the concession look like an aberration rather than a pattern, but it is a reminder that a single defensive lapse against a well-organised counter can outweigh long spells of control.
Fadera did not get to enjoy the moment. He pulled up with a hamstring problem shortly afterwards and was forced off, removing Cagliari's most direct outlet just as the visitors needed to protect a lead against a team starting to find its rhythm in the final third.
Isaksen's inverted movement unlocked the equaliser
Lazio's response arrived sixteen minutes later. Tijjani Noslin combined with Kenneth Taylor to tee up Isaksen, who swept a first-time finish from 13 yards into the far top corner, curling the ball with the inside of his left foot.
The goal reflects a pattern that recurred throughout the afternoon: Isaksen cutting inside from a wide starting position to strike with his favoured foot, a trademark delivery that, per Football Italia's account, he nearly repeated later in the match when another curling effort skimmed the far post. That tendency to drift infield gives Lazio a second scoring threat beyond crosses and direct central runs, forcing Cagliari's defenders to decide between tracking him wide or conceding the cutback lane.
Lazio continued to generate chances after the equaliser without adding a second before the break. Taylor's free kick beat everyone in the box to test Elia Caprile, while Noslin and Oliver Provstgaard both failed to keep headed or angled efforts down, and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru's penalty appeal for a challenge by Juan Rodríguez was waved away.
A stretcher, a red card and a set-piece routine decided it
The game turned decisively in the closing stages. Alessandro Deiola was left dazed after blocking a Dele-Bashiru effort with his face and was eventually taken off on a stretcher, an injury that briefly halted play but did not stop the move that led to Lazio's winner.
From that same passage, Alfonso Pedraza, falling acrobatically, knocked an Isaksen cross back into the danger area for Pinamonti to head in from five yards on 83 minutes. It was a finish built on quick improvisation rather than a rehearsed routine, with Pedraza's touch as important as Isaksen's delivery in creating the chance.
Cagliari's night deteriorated further in stoppage time when Adam Obert was shown a second yellow card for felling Isaksen, leaving the visitors to finish with ten men having already lost Fadera to injury and Deiola to a head knock. The sequence of departures, two enforced and one disciplinary, compounded a defensive collapse that had looked solid for long periods after Nzola's opener.
Lazio's victory extends their winning run to five matches and lifts them to sole top spot in Serie A after matchday ten. Cagliari, now without a win in four, will need to regroup quickly, with Fadera's hamstring issue and Deiola's head injury both likely to be of concern heading into their next fixture.