Provstgaard credits Gattuso's man-management for Lazio's Juventus rout
After scoring in a 3-0 win at Juventus, Oliver Provstgaard says Gennaro Gattuso has built a spirit at Lazio he has never felt before in his career.
Oliver Provstgaard says Gennaro Gattuso has transformed the atmosphere inside Lazio's dressing room, speaking after his header set up a 3-0 win away to Juventus on Saturday, according to Football Italia.
The Danish centre-back opened the scoring with a glancing header from a corner, before Gustav Isaksen added a second with an angled drive and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru completed the scoring in the final minute, running from inside his own half to finish the move.
"We are very happy in the locker room. It was a great game, we are so pleased, there were many things we did well today. I love football, so I like to have a smile on my face when I'm playing," Provstgaard told DAZN Italia, as relayed by Football Italia.
A set-piece routine that is paying off
Provstgaard's opener came from a corner, and it is worth noting how often Lazio have now turned dead-ball situations into goals this season. A player of his profile — six foot plus, strong in the air — is exactly the kind of target a side wants on the front post or the six-yard line when the ball is delivered, and his finish in Turin was a textbook glancing header rather than a scramble.
That detail matters tactically. Teams that can rely on a genuine aerial threat from corners do not need to manufacture as many chances from open play, and it gives a manager like Gattuso another route to goal against sides that defend deep or compact, as Juventus often do at home.
The third goal shows the counter-attacking identity
Dele-Bashiru's goal was built entirely in transition. Starting the move from inside his own half and carrying it the length of the pitch to finish in the final minute is the clearest possible evidence of a team set up to punish opponents in moments of transition, not just control matches through possession.
Isaksen's contribution — an angled drive for the second goal — added a different kind of threat again: a direct runner capable of cutting inside and shooting rather than simply crossing. Combined with Provstgaard's aerial power and Dele-Bashiru's counter-attacking burst, the three goals in Turin came from three distinct sources, which is itself a sign of a side that is difficult to defend against.
Gattuso's man-management is central to the story
Provstgaard was explicit about what has changed for him personally. He barely featured last season but has become a regular starter under Gattuso, and he credited the manager directly for that shift.
"I really love working and if you work hard, you will be rewarded. It is all part of my progress as a player. Gattuso is a big part of that, he is a coach who helped me so much, he knows my quality and also what I need to improve every day," he said.
He went further when describing the mood around the training ground. "I am very happy that he came here, there is a spirit in the training ground and on the field now that I never experienced before in football," Provstgaard added.
That kind of statement from a player who has gone from fringe figure to key contributor carries weight. It suggests Gattuso's impact at Lazio is not confined to tactical organisation but extends to the kind of environment that gets more out of individual players, something that is harder to quantify than a formation or a pressing trigger but often decides whether a squad overperforms its individual parts.
Provstgaard also pointed to a collective confidence growing among Lazio's defensive unit. "We are defenders with a lot of quality, we all know that we can play, we enjoy working together and our objective is for Lazio to win every game," he said, a claim the Juventus scoreline did little to contradict.
What the result means in the table
The win leaves Lazio level with Inter at the top of Serie A, with both sides having won six and drawn one of their opening seven matches. That run has opened a two-point gap over Roma in third.
It was also a historically significant result in its own right. Lazio had not won a Serie A match at this Juventus ground since October 2017, which gives the scale of Saturday's performance extra context beyond the scoreline alone.
A 3-0 away win built on a set-piece goal, a driven finish and a length-of-the-pitch counter-attack is not the kind of result that can be dismissed as fortunate. With Provstgaard crediting Gattuso for a cultural shift as much as a tactical one, Lazio's next test will be whether that spirit survives contact with sustained title pressure.