Champions League | Lazio 2-0 Celtic: Super substitute immobile – Football Italia

Ciro Immobile silenced his critics and put Lazio on the brink of the Champions League last 16 when he came off the bench to score a late brace against Celtic.

The Biancocelesti suffered a surprising defeat in Serie A against Salernitana on Saturday. Alessio Romagnoli, Mattia Zaccagni, Nicolò Casale and the suspended Matias Vecino were missing, while Ivan Provedel was able to play despite flu symptoms. Bottom-placed Celtic only picked up one point in the group stage and lost 2-1 when these teams met in Glasgow. Daizen Maeda and Luis Palma were not suspended, with Reo Hatate and Liel Abada injured.

There were weak attempts straight at the goalkeepers of surprise starters Gustav Isaksen and Kyogo Furuhashi.

Felipe Anderson’s header at the far post bounced off the goal and he missed another effort wide, while Patric had to clear when Mario Gila’s back pass surprised Provedel.

Luis Alberto drilled Joe Hart from distance, but after the restart Furuhashi saw his angled shot go past Provedel and the far post.

Nicolò Rovella was reprimanded and will be suspended for the final trip to Atlético de Madrid.

Castellanos had a pair of free headers from corners go over the bar, while Isaksen was sent in from a Felipe Anderson pass only for the angled shot to graze the far post.

Adam Marusic’s right-footed shot went over the bar, while Provedel had to be alert for a Cameron Carter-Vickers header and Hyeongyu Oh’s attempt from distance.

Ciro Immobile came off the bench and shot, then his dummy let Manuel Lazzari pass so Luis Alberto could rise over the crossbar.

The deadlock was finally broken, when Isaksen cut inside from the right and his shot was deflected, becoming an accidental assist for Immobile to jump to the far post and score from a difficult angle.

Moments later, Immobile scored again with another assist from Isaksen. This one floated over, the Italian striker shrugged off one defender, turned another and fired low into the near bottom corner. He has already scored eight goals in his last 10 Champions League games.

Celtic continued to press and after Alistair Johnston stung Provedel’s gloves, the referee awarded an extraordinarily soft penalty to Patric for putting a hand on Oh’s back, but it was overturned following an on-field VAR review.

Lazio 2-0 Celta

Motionless 82, 85 (L)