Pedro stuns Porto as Lazio continue perfect start to Europa League campaign
Life has been rather good on the blue side of Rome in recent weeks, and the Biancocelesti faced a Porto side that has made an inconsistent start to their UEL campaign, with four points from their opening three games. It was Lazio who began brighter here, and the in-form Taty Castellanos delivered an early warning for the Portuguese outfit when he clinically dispatched an angled strike that was subsequently ruled out for offside.
Those neutrals hoping for a flurry of chances would be disappointed, but Arsenal loanee Fabio Vieira briefly bucked that trend when he rifled a stinging left-footed strike onto the crossbar.
However, in first-half stoppage time, Marco Baroni’s side broke the deadlock through Alessio Romagnoli after Castellanos headed Pedro’s corner into the defender’s path.
Porto came out with renewed intensity after the break in a bid to restore parity, but Tiago Djalo missed the target by some distance with his speculative long-range effort.
Lazio were seemingly content in allowing Vítor Bruno’s side a large share of the ball, which was perhaps understandable given the visitors’ lack of cutting edge.
Ingenuity was required to break down a resolute Biancocelesti defence, but Stephen Eustaquio provided that with his 66th-minute equaliser, coolly slotting home a first-time right-footed finish to meet Galeno’s cross from the left-hand side.
Matias Vecino should have restored Lazio’s lead moments later, but the Uruguayan headed over after surging into the box to meet an inswinging cross from the right flank.
But just when Porto thought they were edging their way towards a hard-fought point, the evergreen Pedro ghosted in unmarked to fire home from Gustav Isaksen’s superb ball into the box.
This result ensured the Biancocelesti sealed a sixth consecutive home win across all competition, while Porto have only one win from their last 13 away games in Italy.