Lazio – Fiorentina

By: salvatore | March 21st, 2008

Firenze

L’unica squadra di Roma, Lazio, are heading to Florence today, hoping they can extend the renaissance that’s taken hold over the last month. Confidence and energy levels are high, which is a good thing, since playing the Viola at home is going to be tough.

The Biancoceleste have had some luck there lately, winning four of the last five games at the Franchi, but after losing to Napoli midweek, you can bet that Fiorentina are going to come out with guns blazing.

Giving them another boost is the return of Adrian Mutu:

Yep, the cocaine-loving superfreak is bound to be a pain the ass. Of course, even if he’s not up to his usual standards, the Viola are a tough team to beat, since in my opinion, they have one of the deepest, and most promising squads in Italy. Montolivo, Osvaldo and Kuzmanovic, in particular, are three players I’d love to have…and two, if not all three, are likely to play tomorrow.

On our side, Delio will be doing what he can to uphold the fighting spirit that has been on display for most of the last month (a spirit that’s reminded Lotito of last season’s team).

if training sessions are anything to go on, Meghni will be taking the place of Pandev in the trident up front, and Manfredini will be stepping into Behrami’s right wing derby position. Unbelievably, David Rozehnal might actually get a start tomorrow, taking Cribari’s place in the center of the defense.

Rozehnal

If, like me, you’re wondering why he hasn’t started since arriving in January, Delio dropped something of a hint yesterday, stating:

“Mi avevano detto che giocava anche come terzino ma ho scoperto che non è così. Radu può giocare invece in entrambi i ruoli”

I guess it’s true then, lying on your resume is not a good thing. In any case, the Czech international was one of the best defenders in Ligue 1 a few years back, so the talent is definitely there.

All he has to do is convince Delio.

Delio

Probable formations:

Lazio (L’unica squadra di Roma): Ballotta; De Silvestri, Rosenhal (!), Siviglia, Kolarov; Dabo, Ledesma, Manfredini; Meghni; Bianchi, Rocchi.

Fiorentina: Frey; Ujfalusi, Dainelli, Kroldrup, Pasqual; Montolivo, Donadel, Kuzmanovic; Papa Waigo, Pazzini, Mutu

Likelihood Lazio blows it: 55%
Likelihood Rozehnal makes Delio hate him even more: 45%
Likelihood Mutu professes his love for the “white lady“: 10%

Here’s what happened the last time these teams met (in league play):