Reja rues missed chances

Lazio manager Edy Reja refused to blame striker Mauro Zarate for their 2-1 defeat at Udinese on Sunday.

Reja’s side trailed 2-0 at half-time after a pair of strikes from Serie A top-scorer Antonio Di Natale before Zarate had the chance to give his side a lifeline in the 67th minute.

Udinese’s Gabrielle Angella was sent off for conceding the spot-kick and any goal would have dragged Lazio back into the contest, but the Argentine misfired from the penalty spot as his meek chip attempt was easily saved by Samir Handanovic.

Lazio did make the most of the numerical advantage and pulled a goal back through Libor Kozak with 14 minutes remaining, but they could not draw level and slipped to sixth, out of the Champions League places.

“Penalties can be missed,” Reja said.

“Zarate thought the goalkeeper was going to pick a corner and go down, but that wasn’t the case. If he had scored, the game could’ve changed, as we were sharp and Udinese beginning to get tired.”

“Mauro has played a great deal this season, as he can often decide a match. He has the characteristics to always take people on and create space in attack.”

“It’s true that sometimes means he slows down the tempo, but he is an important player for us.”

Reja was disappointed with his side’s defensive errors and said extra importance will now fall on their last two matches against Genoa and Lecce as they still hope to finish fourth.

“We made several mistakes in defence and Udinese punished us,” he said.

“Apart from that, I think it was a balanced encounter. They had four very similar attacking moves and with a little more concentration we could’ve avoided that damage.”

“We’ve got to give our all in the next two games to finish as high up the table as possible. Unfortunately when you don’t get the full points against the big clubs, it means you have some limitations.”