Lazio’s early-season momentum has carried them alongside Inter at the top of Serie A, and the 3-1 victory over Monza offered another picture of a side growing in conviction under Gennaro Gattuso. Five wins and one draw from the opening six league fixtures represent an unprecedented start in the club’s Serie A history, a return few in Rome would have dared to predict before the campaign began.
Monza were beaten by a Lazio team that found both quality and resilience when the afternoon became complicated. Nuno Tavares opened his account for the club with a fierce left-footed strike, before Gustav Isaksen doubled the lead. The Danish forward also struck the post in an energetic performance, continuing a productive spell that has brought him seven goals in 19 appearances for Denmark; his most recent international goal came against Wales on 27 September.
Andrea Pinamonti then supplied Lazio’s third, his first goal in the shirt, but the result was not as comfortable as the final score might suggest. Monza had been reduced to ten players when Riccardo Lucchesi was dismissed in the 35th minute, a decision that followed an earlier incident involving Tavares and Samuele Birindelli which the visitors felt should also have been punished.
Rather than retreat, Monza responded after the interval. Giorgi Goglichidze cut the deficit at the start of the second half and the Brianzoli came close to an equaliser on at least three occasions. Christos Mandas was decisive twice, once again demonstrating the reliability that has made him one of several players revived during Gattuso’s first months in charge.
Gattuso’s response to a difficult past
Mandas, Noslin, Belahyane, Tavares and Isaksen have all benefited from the new coach’s work, while Lazio have developed a style that has been both effective and enjoyable. For Gattuso, however, the speed of this start also reflects a personal response to the disappointment he carried from his time with the national team.
The former Italy coach has spoken openly of the Bosnia-Italy match in Zenica, a night that damaged the World Cup ambitions he had pursued so intensely. “The Bosnia defeat will stay with me for the rest of my life,” he said recently. “For months it stopped me sleeping; I would take long walks simply to wear myself out enough to close my eyes.”
Gattuso did not allow that setback to keep him away from football for long. He accepted Lazio’s challenge quickly, with an opportunity to rebuild both a club project and his own standing. The season is still young, and Monza showed that the leaders can be tested, but Lazio now have numbers as well as performances to support their place at the summit.
