ADVANCE THROUGH THE NEXT ROUND!!

EUROPA LEAGUE 2011/2012 MATCHDAY 6

LAZIO 2 VS SPORTING LISBON 0

Lazio: Albano Benjamin Bizzarri, Giuseppe Biava, Mobido Diakite, Luis Pedro Cavanda, Cristian Ledesma, Lorik Cana (Alvaro Gonzals 53'), Senad Lulic,, Hernanes, Djibril Cissé, Giuseppe Sculli, Libor Kozak (Miroslav Klose 85')

Sporting Lisbon: Boeck Marcelo, Oguchi Onyewu (Joao Mario 76'), Santos Fabiano Evaldo, Tiago Ilori, Stijn Schaars (Filipe Daniel Carrico 69'), Marques Alexandre Bruno Pereirinha, Filipe Andre Santos, Renato Andre Martins, Valeri Bojinov, Diego Rubio (Emiliano Insua 65'), Andre Carrillo. 

Lazio finally advance through the next round of Europa League this season. In the last matchday, Lazio had a really good luck! They had a victory over Sporting and also had a good result in another match of the group D. Yes, their rival in this group Vaslui had defeated by the switzerland FC Zurich.

Before the match, Lazio had the toughest of paths if the team wanted to advance from the group stage of Europa League and avoid another humiliating early exit. Not only was a win needed against the strongest side of the group, but also an already eliminated FC Zurich had to get a result against Romanians Vaslui, the team that would kick Lazio out of the tournament with a win in Switzerland.

In this match, coach Edy Reja played some secondary players, even primavera players. He took the strategy because he had to keep the starting players fresh until the match against Udinese in Serie A. But, it could not avoid Lazio to gain a victory over the Portuguese team. Lazio got the scores from Libor Kozak in the first half and Giuseppe Sculli in the second half.

After the draw for the next round match of Europa League, Lazio announced that they will face the Spanish giant Atletico Madrid. Atletico had already met another Italian club Udinese in the group stage before. The first leg will be played at Olimpico in Rome on 16 February 2012, then one week later, Edy Reja's men will travel to Madrid for the second leg on 23 February.

Last time Lazio played Atletico Madrid was in the UEFA Cup in 1997-98. Lazio beat Atletico Madrid in the semi finals 1-0 over two legs with a goal from Vladimir Jugovic. Lazio and Atletico Madrid have also had some great players in common. Players like Cristian Vieri, Diego Simeone, Vladimir Jugovic & Matías Lequi have played for both clubs.

If Lazio should beat Atletico Madrid over two matches they will play the winner from Besiktas and Sporting Braga.