Baroni believes Lazio were worthy winners: “Milan struggled badly in the first half” | OneFootball

Lazio boss Marco Baroni feels that his side deserved to beat AC Milan last night, even if it took a 98th minute penalty against ten men to do so.

Lazio took the lead in the first half through Mattia Zaccagni as he fired in a rebound, and it was a goal that had been coming with Milan all at sea. When the Rossoneri had Strahinja Pavlovic sent off in the 67th minute, they probably thought it would be an easy night from there.

However, Rafael Leao crossed for Samuel Chukwueze to head in an equaliser inside the final ten minutes. There was to be another twist though, as a VAR review for Mike Maignan’s challenge on Gustav Isaksen gave Pedro the chance to win it deep in added time, which he took.

While there was some controversy about the refereeing decisions made, Baroni feels that Lazio were good value for the three points ultimately. He spoke to DAZN after they jumped into fourth, while waiting for Juventus’ result later.

“When I said we are a good team that plays good football, we need to work to become a great team. They are doing that, one game at a time, and I knew this would allow us to show our character,” Baroni said (via Football Italia).

“We had 20 shots on goal, so we’ve got to grow in terms of maturity, self-belief and determination. It was a deserved victory, our only error was perhaps thinking we could take our foot off the gas when they went down to 10 men, but that is really not in our nature. We’ve got to keep playing.

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“This is what I mean when I talk about maturity and growth, we should’ve controlled the tempo better in that situation. We should’ve scored more than one goal with that many chances, but the team must not be conservative, it should always be attacking and positive. That is what brings results.

“Isaksen has incredible potential, I saw it in him, but he needed it brought out of him with belief. His mentality is growing, because the quality was always there, but he is now becoming a decisive player.

“Strikers make their mark with goals and assists, but also the hard work he and Zaccagni were doing covering the spaces. I think Milan struggled badly in the first half because Lazio put in a great performance.

“When a penalty is taken, you know anything can happen, but Pedro is the right man to take the ball, so I felt very confident. He never makes a mistake from the spot in training, but he also says that it only counts when you don’t make a mistake in a stadium full of people. He is one of those players.”