[dukeofdavinci]

Serie A Week 34 - 20/4/08 (14.00 UK)

Catania 1 - 0 Lazio
Spinesi pen 34 (C)
Stadio Massimino

Gionatha Spinesi's penalty proved enough to defeat nine-man Lazio and keep Catania's hopes of survival on track.

The Elefantini were desperate for points, sitting just two ahead of Reggina and Empoli going into this weekend, but were missing the injured Inacio Pia' and Cristian Terlizzi. Lazio had drawn three on the trot and not won in Catania since 1961. Curiously, both these teams played the Coppa Italia semi-finals this week, Lazio holding Inter 0-0 and the Sicilians losing 1-0 at Roma. Sebastiano Siviglia's ban added to absentees Valon Behrami, Simone Del Nero and Mobido Diakhite'.

43-year-old Marco Ballotta returned between the posts after Nestor Muslera's howlers sent the Uruguayan packing. The 'old' boy didn't exactly settle in well either, as in the opening two minutes he was surprised by a Gennaro Sardo strike on to the crossbar. Moments later Catania hit the woodwork again with Giacomo Tedesco's rocket from 20 metres.

Giuseppe Mascara blasted a Vargas pass over the bar with the inside of his right foot, as it was all Catania early on.

Mourad Meghni had Lazio's only opportunity, placing the angled drive with the inside of his right foot wide of the target.

Ballotta was more reliable with a stunning save on Tedesco, who had got on the end of Mascara's free kick. Izco drilled over from the resulting corner kick.

Luciano Zauri saw red for bringing down Mascara in a clear scoring opportunity and the penalty was inevitable. Gionatha Spinesi buried the spot-kick beneath Ballotta's body for his seventh goal of the season. It was Lazio's 10th red card of the season - more than any other side.

Ballotta rushed out to close down Spinesi's counter, but Lazio went down to nine men. Ousmane Dabo was booked for a tackle on Tedesco and took his protests too far, earning a second yellow card.

Spinesi wasted the opportunity to double their lead and, as tiredness set in, nine-man Lazio began to push forward with Goran Pandev going close.

Catania: Polito; Sardo, Silvestre, Stovini, Sabato; Izco, Biagianti, Tedesco (Baiocco 71); Mascara (Colucci 76), Vargas, Spinesi (Martinez 84)

Lazio: Ballotta; Zauri, Cribari, Rozenhal, Kolarov; Ledesma, Mutarelli, Dabo; Meghni (De Silvestri 46); Bianchi (Pandev 52), Rocchi (Tare 78)

Ref: Celi

Sent off: Zauri 33 (L), Dabo 59 (L)

channel4.com - Football Italia