After last night`s match against Olympiacos in Champions League, our veteran goalkeeper Marco Ballota has set a new record.

As a matter of a fact, with 43 years and 168 days, he is the oldest player to play Champions League.

Congrats Marco.

Just like I anticipate (but did not write on the blog entry), we only managed a draw against Olympiacos last night. Watching the highlights, one may observe that we could have easily lost the match, considering another poor display, but also win it if Pandev stroke better just before the end. All in all it is not a bad result considering the fact that this is an away match against a side that is playing CL football for 11 years in a row and considering that, save for Zauri, this was the first CL game for the rest of Lazio team.

Below is the match comment from uefa.com.

Olympiacos CFP and S.S. Lazio shared the spoils in Athens after their closely contested Group C opener at the Georgios Karaiskakis stadium ended in a 1-1 draw.

Lucianos score
It was a tale of the two Lucianos: Argentine midfielder Luciano Galletti put Olympiacos ahead ten minutes into the second half before Luciano Zauri levelled matters with an equally slick finish with 13 minutes remaining. There was an eerily silent atmosphere in the empty stadium as Olympiacos served a one-match behind-closed-doors sanction as punishment for crowd disturbances last season. But a vociferous gathering of Olympiacos fans in the parking area behind the main stand did their utmost to rally behind their team.

Ballotta record
And it was the hosts who almost went ahead after five minutes when skipper Predrag Djordjević side-footed over from close range after a great run and cross by Vasilios Torossidis. There was danger at the other when Lazio won a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area but Cristián Ledesma’s curling effort was tipped away by Antonis Nikopolidis. Lomana LuaLua’s trickery and athleticism was causing problems for Lazio and on 14 minutes a neat dribble took him past two defenders on the edge of the area, but his deflected shot fell kindly for Lazio keeper Marco Ballotta, who became the oldest player to compete in the UEFA Champions League group stage at the age of 43 years and 168 days.

Galletti chance
Neither goalkeeper was extended in a tentative opening 45 minutes. The visitors’ best chance came just after the half-hour and only a last-ditch tackle by Michał Żewłakow blocked Stefano Mauri’s goalbound shot as the Olympiacos back-line were caught napping. The hosts finished the half strongly, however, as Galletti broke clear down the right channel and drew an excellent save from Ballotta at his near post.

Galletti strikes
A strong start to the second half from Olympiacos saw defender Paraskevas Antzas’s point-blank header saved by Ballotta six minutes in, before the hosts broke the deadlock in the 55th minute. A slick passing move involving Djordjević and LuaLua sprung the Lazio offside trap and sent Galletti galloping through on goal. The Argentine forward neatly rounded Ballotta before slotting in a right-footed shot. With Lazio on the backfoot, Galletti won two corners in the space on a minute just after the hour mark, before Djordjević fired a long-range effort just over. Aside from a couple of dangerous crosses, Lazio struggled to create openings at the other end.

Zauri leveller
Delio Rossi sent on Simone Del Nero with 20 minutes remaining in an attempt to give his side more attacking impetus and the striker unsettled Olympiacos with his direct running. But it was a lapse in concentration that cost the hosts dear on 77 minutes. There looked little danger when Pandev prodded a ball down the left, but Christos Patsatzoglou failed to reach it and the ball fell to Zauri, who beat Nikopolidis with a low shot. Pandev was denied brilliantly by Nikopolidis with four minutes left as Lazio ended the match strongly.

           vs.        

Tuesday, September 18; 20;45 CET 

Ok, here we go. What we, Lazio fans have waited for a couple of years will go on stage this night in Athens as we play Olympiacos in a stadium without crowd.

What we all hope is that the players play much better than in this poor start of the Serie A campaign and at least grab a draw at always difficult trips in Greece.

As far as the team is concerned, Delio Rossi will be without Valon Behrami (suspended) and Firmani and Siviglia (injured). Also, Massimo Mutarelli`s presence is under a big question mark as it appears he sustained an injury in the last moment of the Empoli clash on Saturday. However, Stefano Mauri is expected to return after being out since August 14. There is another dilemma for the coach regarding the right back position. To play an experienced Scaloni or young and impressive De Silvestri.

After a thrilling match full of emotions and in front of 50,000 frenetic chants, Lazio managed to beat 3-1 Dinamo Bucuresti and therefore qualify for the main Champions League draw. Those of you who read my blog were aware of the injuries (and suspensions) Delio Rossi was facing and when you take into account a non favorable match from the first leg, this Lazio win and qualification was one of the most pleasant and happy moment of my time as being LAZIALE.

Since I was unable to watch the match (like the majority of Lazio international fans as RAI only broadcasted for domestic audience) I am posting a match report from a third party website as well as some clips where you can watch the goals from the match as well as the video from Fiumiciono Airport when the team returned to Rome in the late hours.

Match report is here:

Video from Fiumicino: