Lazio dominated the match and proved too much for the young squad of Rabotnicki.  The difference in quality was evident and Lazio newcomers Miroslav Klose and Djibril Cissé managed to find the back of the net in their first competitive match for the Italian club.

The first half started with Lazio dominating possession and creating chance after chance.  The first attempt fell for Stefano Mauri but his sliding attempt from close range was saved by the Rabotnicki keeper Stole Dimitrievski.  Mauri tried to score on the rebound but he was called for a foul on the keeper by the Russian referee.  The impressive new signing of Lazio, Djibril Cissé, then had his first chance of the game in the 9th minute but his shot from close range was saved by Dimitrievski.  Lazio kept the pressure and the next player to test Dimitrievski was Christian Brocchi in the 11th minute but his shot was once again saved by the 17 year old keeper.  The shots kept on coming towards the Rabotnicki goal and Cristian Ledesma then forced Dimitrievski into another save in the 16th minute.  The save was pushed away by Dimitreivski for a corner kick and from the resulting corner, Lazio nearly scored but a Rabotnicki defender just managed to clear the ball before it went to the back of the net.  In the 20th minute, Lazio took the deserving lead through Hernanes who scored with a nice shot past Dimitrievski.  Two minutes later, Lazio was awarded a free kick from a dangerous position but the powerful free kick ended up striking the wall before Dimitrievski gathered the ball.  Stefano Mauri scored a goal in the 25th minute but it was ruled offside.  However, replays showed that Mauri was not offside and the goal should have stood.  The wrongly disallowed goal didn’t prove relevant and Mauri actually got his goal in the 39th minute when he scored from close range to give Lazio a 2:0 lead going into halftime.  Rabotnicki did not threaten the Lazio goal as the only two shots fell for Krste Velkoski but they were well wide of the goal.

The second half was the same story with Lazio continuing their domination and scoring an additional four goals.  Djibril Cissé scored his first goal in a Lazio uniform in the 51st minute with a nice shot that went past Stole Dimitrievski.  The guilty player on the goal was attacker Ivan Nastevski.  Nastevski tried to make a long cross to the other side of the field but he mishit the ball and it found a Lazio player who then passed the ball to Cissé who did the rest by scoring a nice goal.  The 16 year old Darko Velkovski should have done better in the 61st minute when he was set up for a shot but his effort didn’t have much power and the Lazio keeper easily gathered the ball.  In the 65th minute, Cissé scored his second goal of the game with a well placed header past the diving Dimitrievski.  The game then slowed down for the next twenty minutes with little action but the introduction of Tommaso Rocchi in the 85th minute proved important and led to an additional two goals for Lazio.  Rocchi scored in the 87th minute when his shot took a deflection off of Rabotnicki defender Dimitrija Lazarevski before going past the hapless Dimitrievski.  Finally, in the 90th minute, Miroslav Klose put the finishing touches on a perfect night for Lazio by also scoring his first goal in a Lazio uniform after being set up by Rocchi who was credited with the assist.

Rabotnicki did not create one good opportunity during the game and suffered a convincing road victory against Lazio.  Dimitrievski was not really at fault on any of the six goals and made several saves that prevented more goals for Lazio.  The missing players on defense proved problematic for Rabotnicki as the replacements struggled and could not contain the attackers for Lazio. In particular, newcomer Djibril Cissé and Hernanes had great games for Lazio and presented numerous problems for Rabotnicki’s defense with their movement, skill, and ability.

The return leg of this matchup will be next Thursday on 25 August 2011 at the Phillip II Arena in Skopje.  Rabotnicki will only play for pride as Lazio has already secured a place in the group stages of the Europa League after their performance during today’s game.

Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy
Referee: Sergei Karasev (Russia)
Scorers: Hernanes 20′, Mauri 39′, Cissé 51′ and 65′, Rocchi 87′, Klose 90′.
Yellow Cards: Najdoski 10′, Petrovik 18′, Velkovski 43′.
Red Cards: None
Lazio: Marchetti; Scaloni, Biava, Dias, Radu; Ledesma, Brocchi (63′ Matuzalem); Cissé (85′ Rocchi), Hernanes, Mauri (c) (72′ Lulić); Klose.
Rabotnicki: Dimitrievski; Todorovski, Najdoski, Lazarevski, Micevski (43′ Nastevski); Petrovik, Velkovski, Vujčić, Muarem (77′ Gligorov); Velkoski, Manevski (c) (85′ Petkovski).