Eager to make amends following their shock first-round exit in the Coppa Italia at the hands of second-tier side Mantova, Lazio started the brighter of the two teams.
After eight minutes, club captain Mattia Zaccagni steered an effort wide from a promising position before Matteo Cancellieri registered the first shot on target of the contest with a speculative 20-yard strike inside the opening quarter-hour.
Bologna’s first sign of attacking threat materialised moments later, as Roberto Piccoli’s instinctive effort following a corner was drilled narrowly off-target.
After half an hour, the Biancocelesti had the ball in the back of the net thanks to Boulaye Dia’s composed finish with just the goalkeeper to beat, but his strike was immediately ruled out for offside to the frustration of Lazio’s travelling support.
The remainder of the first half was a pretty drab affair with nothing to separate the two sides at the interval.
The first clear-cut opportunity for either team fell to the hosts just three minutes after the interval when Christos Mandas did superbly to keep out Jens Odgaard’s close-range header.
The deadlock was finally broken just before the hour mark, though, as substitute Davide Frattesi made an instant impact for the visitors. Just five minutes after replacing Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, Frattesi latched onto a beautiful back-heeled pass from Dia inside the area, making no mistake to slot the ball past Lukasz Skorupski and into the bottom corner to edge the visitors in front.
With 15 minutes remaining, the Rossoblu stepped it up a gear and came agonisingly close to levelling the contest. Firstly, a curling left-footed free-kick from Federico Bernardeschi was tipped onto the post by Mandas, shortly before Eivind Helland’s close-range strike was cleared off the line by an inspired Frattesi.
Despite their best efforts at the death, Bologna just couldn’t find a way past Lazio’s defence, and the Biancocelesti held on to claim all three points.
Domenico Tedesco will aim to record his first Serie A win in charge of the Rossoblu when they travel to Atalanta BC in the league next Monday, with Bologna having now only won one of their past 10 Serie A opening-round games.
Meanwhile, after kickstarting their campaign with an away win, Lazio host Genoa next, aiming to improve on their lowest league finish since 2013/14 last season.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Christos Mandas (Lazio)
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