Lazio narrowly beat Bologna in Serie A opener to claim first win of Gattuso era

[p]Eager to make amends following their shock first-round exit in the Coppa Italia at the hands of second-tier side [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/mantova/z7WK5Pwb/"]Mantova[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/lazio/URcSl02h/"]Lazio[/a] started the brighter of the two teams.[/p][p]After eight minutes, club captain [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/zaccagni-mattia/MJ7sACQ8/"]Mattia Zaccagni[/a] steered an effort wide from a promising position before [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/cancellieri-matteo/GvtmmdSl/"]Matteo Cancellieri[/a] registered the first shot on target of the contest with a speculative 20-yard strike inside the opening quarter-hour.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/bologna/0M9xNN8N/"]Bologna[/a]’s first sign of attacking threat materialised moments later, as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/piccoli-roberto/CK8QgVjh/"]Roberto Piccoli[/a]’s instinctive effort following a corner was drilled narrowly off-target.[/p][p]After half an hour, the Biancocelesti had the ball in the back of the net thanks to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/dia-boulaye/zk0Q52W2/"]Boulaye Dia[/a]’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.[/p][p]The remainder of the first half was a pretty drab affair with nothing to separate the two sides at the interval.[/p][p]The first clear-cut opportunity for either team fell to the hosts just three minutes after the interval when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mandas-christos/vVGAhOFI/"]Christos Mandas[/a] did superbly to keep out [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/odgaard-jens/xbCDeKRm/"]Jens Odgaard[/a]’s close-range header.[/p][p][b]The deadlock was finally broken just before the hour mark, though, as substitute [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/frattesi-davide/WlVuvCqU/"]Davide Frattesi[/a] made an instant impact for the visitors. Just five minutes after replacing [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/dele-bashiru-fisayo/AF8BqWgI/"]Fisayo Dele-Bashiru[/a], Frattesi latched onto a beautiful back-heeled pass from Dia inside the area, making no mistake to slot the ball past [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/skorupski-lukasz/SYbhvYs3/"]Lukasz Skorupski[/a] and into the bottom corner to edge the visitors in front.[/b][/p][embed guid="0b15e686-0c43-40ca-8fbb-4d77d90601ca" url="https://x.com/SerieA_EN/status/2091947855288099306" social-type="twitter" /][p]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 [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bernardeschi-federico/Ghmdi8ej/"]Federico Bernardeschi[/a] was tipped onto the post by Mandas, shortly before [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/helland-eivind/r5FI6B08/"]Eivind Helland[/a]’s close-range strike was cleared off the line by an inspired Frattesi.[/p][p]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.[/p][p]Domenico Tedesco will aim to record his first Serie A win in charge of the Rossoblu when they travel to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/atalanta/8C9JjMXu/"]Atalanta BC[/a] in the league next Monday, with Bologna having now only won one of their past 10 Serie A opening-round games.[/p][p]Meanwhile, after kickstarting their campaign with an away win, Lazio host [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/genoa/d0PJxeie/"]Genoa[/a] next, aiming to improve on their lowest league finish since 2013/14 last season.[/p][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mandas-christos/vVGAhOFI/"]Christos Mandas[/a] ([a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/lazio/URcSl02h/"]Lazio[/a])[/b][/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/bologna-0M9xNN8N/lazio-URcSl02h/?mid=vm6sImkC"]Click here f[/a][/b][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/bologna-0M9xNN8N/lazio-URcSl02h/?mid=vm6sImkC"]or more on the match[/a][/b][/p][image alt="Match stats" id="ed65c893-04dd-4afb-8fda-bf47cfaf63d4" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="c4f16cc7-24e4-4436-bbc4-c177cadde260" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /]