Lazio 1 : 0 Cesena - Zarate on the mark in win

Posted Saturday, March 19, 2011 by PA

Lazio moved above Udinese into fourth place in Serie A thanks to a 1-0 victory over Cesena at the Stadio Olimpico.

A goal from Mauro Zarate after just 88 seconds was enough to lift the Biancoceleste back into the race for a place in the Champions League next season and leave Cesena in danger at the other end of the table.

The home side had chances to make it a more comfortable win and almost paid the price for not doing so as Cesena fought spiritedly until the final whistle, albeit without creating any real chances.

Zarate scored his first goal of 2011 to put Lazio in front after little over a minute.

Stefano Mauri pulled the ball back from the byline and Zarate stretched out his right foot to divert it past Francesco Antonioli inside the far post.

Cesena responded immediately with Dominique Malonga and Luis Jimenez very active behind Erjon Bogdani, but the Lazio defence never really looked stretched.

The home side threatened a second just before half-time with Andre Dias' header from a corner diverted towards goal by Stefano Mauri, but Antonioli made an instinctive save to deny him.

Moments later, Zarate found his way to the byline and pulled the ball back to Sculli, but his shot went wide of the near post.

Sculli came even closer to scoring a second in the third minute of the second half when his header was pushed onto the post by Antonioli.

Alvaro Gonzalez's shot was cleared just in front of the goal-line by the defence in the 65th minute as Lazio continued to look for a goal to put the game beyond their opponents.

But Cesena were still fighting and Fabio Caserta should have done better in the 67th minute when he received the ball 15 yards from goal, but he shot straight at Nelson Muslera in the Lazio goal.

Davide Santon curled an effort wide before Zarate did the same at the other end as the game opened up for the final 20 minutes, but there were no further goals as Edy Reja's side bounced straight back from their derby defeat last weekend to move back into the top four.