Lazio picked up their third win in a row in all competitions with a massively entertaining 4-1 victory away against Como on Thursday night, which ended 10 vs 10 and included goals from Taty Castellanos, Pedro, Luca Mazzitelli, Patric and Loum Tchaouna, and yet another assist from the in-form Nuno Tavares.
Castellanos grabbed his sixth goal of the season just shy of the half-hour mark. A Lazio corner caused chaos in the Como penalty area, and though the referee initially waved play on, he later signalled for a penalty after a VAR review confirmed that the ball had struck Alberto Dossena’s arm in the area.
Castellanos had no issues in dispatching the ball into the upper left hand corner of the net, sending Audero the wrong way in the process.
Just three minutes later, Pedro doubled the Lazio’s advantage. Nuno Tavares received the ball out on the left-flank and proceeded to register his eighth assist in eight Serie A matches, cutting back for the Spaniard to slot home from 15 yards out.
There was some confusion five minutes before half-time, as the referee brandished a red card immediately after Pedro collided with Como’s Alieu Fadera on the touchline. Though it originally looked like the referee had dismissed the Spaniard, it was later confirmed that a member of the Como staff had been sent off instead.
Como fought their way back into it shortly after the start of the second half. The ball took a big bounce on the corner of the six-yard box, Mazzitelli swivelled and fired an improvised volley up and over Provedel and off the frame of the goal from an improbable angle for 2-1.
Matthias Braunöder was dismissed just after the hour mark for a second bookable offence, which was then followed up by Nuno Tavares’s sending off three minutes later, again for a second yellow. The following half-hour was played 10 vs 10.
Castellanos sent a decent free-kick towards the top corner a few minutes later, which Audero managed to steer behind for a corner.
Pedro took the resulting delivery, which was met by Patric at the back post, who headed home relatively comfortably for 3-1.
Como were not short on opportunities to get themselves back into it, but Yannick Engelhardt, Patrick Cutrone and Alberto Cerri all failed to hit the target despite all being presented with glorious opportunities.
Lazio punished them just after Cerri’s miss. The Biancocelesti broke on the counter-attack, Boulaye Dia got a great touch on the ball to send Castellanos through one-on-one and the Argentine made no mistake in dispatching for his seventh goal of the season when up against Audero.
Tchaouna put the finishing touches on a five-star Lazio display with virtually the last touch of the game, converting with ease after being sent through one-on-one in the area for his first goal in Biancocelesti colours.
Lazio are now up to fifth in the Serie A table, level on points with Fiorentina in the Champions League positions. Both of those two teams leapfrogged Juventus with their wins on Thursday evening. Como
Remain in 14th on nine points from their opening 10 games of the 2024-25 Serie A season.
Castellanos (L) 28′, 81′, Pedro (L) 31′, Mazzitelli (C) 53′, Patric (L) 71′, Tchaouna 90+5′.
