Scaloni delight with mature Lazio

Lazio defender Lionel Scaloni said his side’s experience helped them keep a clean sheet in their victory over Palermo on Sunday in Serie A.

The Roman club triumphed 2-0 at the Stadio Olimpico, courtesy of a first-half brace to Giuseppe Sculli.

But 32-year-old Scaloni said the striker’s defensive capabilities in the clash was just as crucial.

“Yes, it was a great match, above all we showed our maturity, because today we played against a great team and a draw would have meant losing fourth place in Serie A, with the derby on Sunday ahead of us,” Scaloni said.

“The team played excellently in the first fifteen to twenty minutes, it was clear we wanted to win. That’s why I say Lazio has improved a lot especially in our attitude.”

“We now start difficult matches differently from last year. We played against a great team and the goals came one after the other. That was important for us. However, it’s also true they created difficulties for us. It was always two against one, (but) luckily (Giuseppe) Sculli and (Alvaro) Gonzales came to help me and we managed to win the match.”

The win put Lazio back into fourth place on the table – 10 points from league leaders AC Milan – but Scaloni said the club had more realistic ambitions than dreaming of the Scudetto.

“We are on our way. I think we need to take one match at a time. We need to keep playing like we did today, especially the way we played early on in the match. If we play like this for 45 to 60 minutes then we might have a chance to battle for third place,” the Argentine said.