Club - Lazio: the Club Facts

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Both teams had a good start in this UCL campaign and are battling for the lead in Group F. Lazio had a difficult home match against group favorite Borussia Dortmund on the first match day. After 6 minutes, Ciro Immobile could already hit the target. An owngoal allowed Lazio to go into the break 2-0 up. Erling Haaland brought tension back into the match, but it was taken away 5 minutes later by Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro who put the final score at 3-1.

Club Brugge and S.S. Lazio have never faced each other in an official context. In Club's history, Lazio is the 123rd unique opponent in Europe. Lazio is the 6th Italian club Club has faced. It has been 5 years since Club faced another Italian team, when it last played Napoli in 2015.

THE OPPONENT

Societá Sportiva Lazio was founded in 1900. It has been playing at the highest Italian level since the creation of Serie A in 1929. In 1958, Lazio won its first prize: the Coppa Italia, a success achieved a total of 7 times (last time 2019). The first Italian national title followed in 1974. In 2000, Lazio could crown themselves champions of Italy the 2nd and last time.

- There are 2 players who played for both Club Brugge and S.S. Lazio:
-> Paul Okon made it to Club at a young age in Australia. At Club, the defender won the cup in 1995 and 1996 and the national title in 1996. In 1996 he moved to Lazio where he won the cup in 1998 and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1999.
-> Czech defender David Rozehnal ended up at Club in 2003. With Club, he won the cup in 2004 and the title in 2005. After PSG and Newcastle United, he joined Lazio in the winter of 2008. There he won the cup in 2009.

Last season S.S. Lazio finished fourth in Serie A. Their top shooter became Italian striker Ciro Immobile who scored no fewer than 36 times in 37 league matches. This not only made him Italy's top shooter, no one in Europe's top competitions scored more than Immobile. Robert Lewandowski scored 34 in the Bundesliga, Ronaldo 31 in Serie A. Last season, Lazio played in the UEFA Europa League. In a pool with CFR Cluj (Rou), Stade Rennais (Fra) and Celtic FC (Sco), it finished third. Again, Immobile became club top shooter with 2 goals. Lazio did lose its last 5 European away matches.

This season, Lazio achieved 7 out of 15 in Serie A, placing it 12th for the time being. Last weekend, against Stefano Denswil's Bologna FC, it was able to get its first home win of the season after a 2-1 victory. Luis Alberto and the inevitable Ciro Immobile scored for Lazio. De Silvestri's tying goal came too late for the visitors.

Coach at Lazio is already for the 5th season Simone Inzaghi. As a player, he made his breakthrough at the highest level with Piacenza where he scored 5 goals in the 1998-99 season. That earned him a transfer to Lazio. Except for loan spells to Sampdoria and Atalanta, he remained loyal to the Biancoceslesti until the end of his career in 2010. After his career, he climbed through the ranks at Lazio as a coach by coaching youth, U17 and U19. After Pioli's dismissal in April 2016, he was allowed to sit out the season as an interim coach. But the following season, he finally got his chance as head coach. Under Inzaghi, Lazio finished 5th in 2017 and in 2018, 8th in 2019 and thus 4th last season.

EUROPEAN MATCH NUMBER 323

This is Club Brugge's 323rd European match and Lazio's 207th. Moreover, it is Blue-Black's78th match in the UEFA Champions League and 44th in the group stage. In Group F, the clash between Borussia Dortmund and FC Zenit will be played at the same time as this game.

Hans Vanaken can play his 40th European match for Club Wednesday night. Mats Rits then again his 20th. David Okereke can be in European action for the 10th time with Blauw-Zwart. For Emmanuel Dennis it could be the 25th European match of his career. He made 21 European appearances for Club Brugge and 3 for Zorya Luhansk (Ukr).

REFEREE

Englishman Anthony Taylor has been appointed ref for the game between Club Brugge and SS Lazio. He will be assisted by his compatriots Gari Beswick and Adam Nunn (linesmen), Paul Terney (fourth official) and Stuart Attwel (VAR), flanked by Lee Betts. UEFA referee observer is Moldovan Vladimir Antonov. UEFA delegate is Balász Makray (Hun).

The 42-year-old Englishman is from the the Cheshire region, in the northwest of England. He is a ref from UEFA's elite category, the highest level of refs. Taylor has been whistling in the Premier League for more than 10 years. Since 2013, he has also been playing internationally. He whistled a European game of Blue-Black once before. In 2013, Club lost 1-0 to Poland's WKS Śląsk Wrocław in the UEFA Europa League preliminary round. He also already led European duels of Anderlecht (2x) and KAA Gent.

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