Another Serie A Dark Horse Emerges! Gattuso Leads Lazio to Three Straight Wins and a Top-Three Place

In the summer of 2023, many Serie A clubs changed their head coaches, with Lazio choosing Gennaro Gattuso, who had left the Italian national team. The decision sparked considerable debate because Gattuso failed to lead the team to qualify for the World Cup, causing doubts about his coaching ability. However, Lazio always had confidence in him, and events have proven their choice was correct.

On September 8 Beijing time, Lazio faced Udinese away in the final match of the third round of Serie A. In the previous two seasons, Lazio had failed to win any of their four meetings with Udinese, but this match produced a very different result. In the end, Lazio completed a 2-1 comeback victory over their opponents, securing three consecutive wins at the start of the new season.

All goals in the match came in the second half. In the 49th minute, Udinese's Karlstrom opened the scoring with a long-range strike. Lazio then launched their comeback, and in the 75th minute, Zaccagni assisted Frattesi to score and level the match. In the 89th minute, Gudmundsson completed the turnaround with a header to secure the victory for Lazio.

Although they were the away team, Lazio held a 60%-40% possession advantage and nearly doubled Udinese's shots with 19 attempts compared with 10. In terms of both performance and the flow of the match, they appeared deserving of the victory. With this win, Lazio became the third team this season to maintain a perfect record.

Currently, Lazio sit third in the Serie A table due to goal difference, behind Inter Milan and Roma. In the first two rounds, they defeated Bologna and Genoa by 1-0 scorelines respectively. Gattuso's arrival has transformed Lazio, and without doubt they have become a dark horse in Serie A this season.

Looking ahead to the new season, Serie A could develop into a multi-team title race. Roma, Inter Milan, Lazio, AC Milan, Juventus, and Como have all shown enough strength to compete for the championship. In particular, the two Rome clubs have started the season with almost perfect performances. Looking back to the early 2000s, both Roma and Lazio were among Serie A's top teams. During the 1999-2001 period, each club won a league title, but in the following years they gradually fell into decline and have been unable to return to their former glory for more than 20 years.

Fortunately, the resurgence of Lazio and Roma this season has added new energy to Serie A. If Napoli can quickly adjust their form, the league may once again experience the prosperous title race of the 'Seven Sisters' era.