<> during the UEFA Champions League Group F stage match between SS Lazio and Borussia Dortmund at Stadio Olimpico on October 20, 2020 in Rome, Italy.
Ciro Immobile would probably be unrecognisable without his Lazio shirt. But he scores so, so many goals.
Ciro Immobile has been described as ‘underrated’ so many times that we may well have tipped over into a situation where the only thing that is truly underrated is the media’s capacity to come up with a new narrative. And yet, here we are again, looking at the phenomenal goalscoring exploits of the Italian machine and wondering why his name is rarely even mentioned in dispatches when discussing the elite strikers of Europe.
If the usual argument was a lack of exposure outside Italy then Tuesday night might have been the beginning of the end of that argument; when playing his first Champions League game for Lazio – with a barely believable 104 goals in 145 Serie A games under his belt – Immobile scored one goal with a deft touch and finish before setting up substitute Jean-Daniel Akpa-Akpro for Lazio’s third.
“It was an emotional night, playing Champions League football after so many years,” said Immobile, whose only other Champions League games had come in Dortmund colours during a quite disastrous one-year spell that undoubtedly colours more opinions than four extraordinary seasons for Lazio. The club were making their first appearance in the Champions League group stage for 13 years. With all respect to Tommaso Rocchi, Lazio have a slightly better striker now. Continue reading