Fresh off the back of his 100th Serie A game in charge of Lazio last weekend, Maurizio Sarri would’ve been keen to see his side fare better than they did in their 2-1 defeat to Bologna.
His men weren’t looking good value to do that inside five minutes when the frame of their goal was shaking after Antonio Sanabria turned Raoul Bellanova’s cross onto the post.
The visitors’ response was fairly muted, but they did at least force Vanja Milinkovic-Savic into action midway through the first half when Ciro Immobile tried his luck from the edge of the area.
It was Torino who largely dominated though, and they continually created openings, the best of which fell to Duvan Zapata, but unmarked in the area, he could only direct his effort wide of the target.
Headed efforts seemed to be the hosts’ best route to goal, and they were again threatening aerially on the stroke of half time when Adam Masina’s downward header kissed the post on its way wide.
Number one in the book of footballing cliches - you have to score when you’re on top - and tonight that was something Torino failed to do.
They were punished in brutal fashion shortly after the restart too, as a clever dummy from Immobile from Luis Alberto’s pass afforded Matteo Guendouzi some space in the area and he made no mistake in firing home just his second league goal of the season.
With the hosts perhaps still shell-shocked from falling behind, the Biancocelesti soon doubled their advantage when Alberto was again involved, teeing up Danilo Cataldi to stroke home from the edge of the area.
Seeing the game out from there should’ve been straightforward for Lazio, but their task was complicated just over ten minutes from time when Mario Gila was shown his second yellow. From then on, it was wave after wave of Torino attack, but the hosts were unable to set up a grandstand finish as they slumped to just a second defeat in 12 league outings.
It was another solid evening of travelling for Lazio though, who secured a fourth win from their last six away league games.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Luis Alberto (Lazio)
