Motta saves four penalties as Lazio edge Atalanta to reach a Coppa Italia final with Inter
Lazio goalkeeper Edoardo Motta saved four penalties in a shootout as Maurizio Sarri’s side edged past Atalanta at the New Balance Arena on Wednesday night to reach the Coppa Italia final. The second-leg semi-final finished 1-1 after extra time, with the tie locked at 3-3 on aggregate, before Motta produced the night of his career in the shootout to send Lazio through 2-1 on spot kicks.
It sets up a Rome-based final with Inter Milan on May 13 at the Stadio Olimpico, a ground Lazio call home. Inter came through the other semi-final earlier in the week with a 3-2 comeback win over Como.
A semi-final the shootout was always going to decide
The second leg had been low on chances for a long stretch. Atalanta pressed through the first half and looked the more dangerous side in the second, but the breakthrough did not arrive until the 84th minute, when Mattia Zaccagni’s corner found Alessio Romagnoli inside the six-yard box and the Lazio captain volleyed in off the back post.
Atalanta answered almost immediately. Mario Pasalic, on as a substitute, levelled in the 86th minute to take the tie into extra time. Both sides had chances in the additional 30 minutes, Lookman was close twice for the hosts, Pedro had a header saved at the other end, but neither keeper was truly beaten. Penalties felt inevitable for the last 20 minutes.
Motta, 21, saves four from five
Motta, who joined Lazio permanently in January and had barely played before this run, saved from Gianluca Scamacca, Davide Zappacosta, Mario Pasalic and Charles De Ketelaere to end the shootout with four stops. The only Atalanta penalty he did not save hit the target because Raspadori converted earlier in the sequence before Motta took over. Gustav Isaksen and Kenneth Taylor tucked theirs away for Lazio, and Sarri was on the touchline pumping his fists before the last kick had even been taken.
It was the night that turns a loan move into a story. Motta will be the name headlined in Italian papers on Thursday morning, and a 21-year-old keeper will walk out in front of a Lazio crowd at the Olimpico for the Coppa Italia final having already produced a shootout performance that most senior goalkeepers go a career without.
What Lazio, and Sarri, get out of this
Sarri has been under pressure on and off all season. A domestic campaign that has drifted away from the European places has taken the focus off what his Lazio are capable of when they are switched on, and a cup final against Inter at their home stadium is the chance to put a trophy on the wall in a season where the Serie A target has slipped out of reach. Lazio last won the Coppa Italia in 2019, when they beat Atalanta 2-0 in the final.
Inter go in as favourites. They are still in the Serie A title race, still in the Champions League, and beat Como from two goals down to get here. Lazio, though, will have the stadium behind them on May 13, a goalkeeper in the form of his life, and the Atalanta shootout as evidence that a team with their back to the wall can still find a way.
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