Champions: at 21 Bruges-Lazio.
Covid emergency, Inzaghi with the men counted.
Probable formations of Bruges-Lazio.
Bruges (4-3-3): 22 Horvath;
77 Clinton Mata, 44 Mechele, 18 Ricca, 2 Sobol;
25 Vormer, 20 Vanaken, 26 Rits;
11 Diatta, 42 Bonaventure, 42 De Ketelaere.
(91 Lammens, 3 Balanta, 10 Lang, 16 Schrijvers, 21 Okereke, 27 Badji, 92 Asoma, 28 Van der Brempt, 55 De Cuyper, 93 Fuakala, 97 Van den Keybus, 99 Baeten).
Coach: Clement.
Lazio (3-5-2): 25 Reina;
4 Patric, 14 Hoedt, 33 Acerbi;
77 Marusic, 92 Akpa Akpro, 16 Parolo, 21 Milinkovic-Savic, 96 Fares;
11 Correa, 20 Caicedo.
(71 Alia, 55 Furlanetto, 54 Franco, 58 Pica, 50 Bertini, 53 Czyz, 94 Muriqi).
Coach: Inzaghi.
Referee: Anthony Taylor (Eng).
The hatchet of Covid also hits the Biancocelesti.
For the second Champions League match tonight at Club Bruges, Lazio will have to do without many owners, decimated by fever and waiting for tomorrow's second tampons: "We have several players left in Rome, we are 16 and the club Covid will make a statement about the situation ", announced Simone Inzaghi at the press conference on the eve of the match.
The Biancoceleste coach had already admitted to Sky Sport: "We have to go and play an important match against a team that won the first. Let's go beyond the emergency that unfortunately affects everyone at the moment. The main problem is not to have rotation, let's do necessity virtue. We played with Bologna three days ago, this is the moment, let's move on. "
The alarm had already gone off yesterday morning, since the finish that had seen only half of the squad available on the pitch.
Then confirmation at Fiumicino airport, where for the flight to Belgium Immobile, Luis Alberto, Lazzari and Djavan Anderson were missing, as well as the goalkeeper Strakosha (already absent with Bologna), Andreas Pereira, Lucas Leiva, Cataldi , Luiz Felipe, Armini and Escalante.
The latter was already in the Paideia clinic on Monday due to an injury, which is added to the already acclaimed unavailability of Radu, Lulic and Vavro.
Yesterday Inzaghi was only able to finish with 13 players from the starting squad, Reina, Alia, Milinkovic-Savic, Marusic, Acerbi, Muriqi, Correa, Patric, Caicedo, Parolo, Akpa Akpro, Fares and Hoedt, to whom he had to join the young Furlanetto, Franco, Bertini, Pica, Czyz.
At the press conference, Francesco Acerbi was one of the most depressed, who said with a dismayed air: "We are in an emergency - the defender's words - the important thing is that there are 11 of us to play and we will give our best to go forward. ".
One of these could be to recover two or three elements with very low viral load and possibly negative for the new buffer in the morning.
Difficult to predict though.
Upon hearing the news, the bookmakers of the main sports betting sites have eliminated the odds of the match, too many absences for the Biancocelesti.
In the absence of twists and turns, the Biancocelesti survivors will be on the pitch: Reina in goal, Patric, Hoedt and Acerbi himself on the defensive line, with Marusic and Fares on the outside, Akpa Akpro, Parolo and Milinkovic in the middle.
In attack, space for the Correa-Caicedo couple with Muriqi ready to take over.
"The match is complicated - admits Inzaghi - We are talking about a physical formation, with an excellent midfield. We will need a very intense game, in Europe the pace is high, we try to bring home a positive result. I have Muriqi, Caicedo and Correa, we will see who will play from the first minute ".
