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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Mark Walker

The Lazio European hoodoo that gives Celtic Champions League advantage

Lazio will have to smash an away day hoodoo tomorrow tonight at Parkhead after winning just once in their last 18 games away from Rome in European football.

The Serie A giants travel to Glasgow to face Celtic in the second round of fixtures in the Champions League group stages.

But they are notoriously bad travellers in Europe after managing just a single win away from Italy in their last five years of three different European competitions in the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League.

Lazio's solitary win came in Russia when they defeated Lokomotiv Moscow 3-0 three years ago in the group stages of the Europa League and they have lost in 11 out of their 18 games away from Rome.

But in the past five years, they have been defeated at Celtic, Eintracht Frankfurt, Sevilla, Rennes, Cluj, Galatasaray, Porto, Feyenoord, FC Midtjylland, AZ Alkmaar and Bayern Munich.

They have drawn at Zenit St Petersburg, Borussia Dortmund, Club Brugge, Marseille, Sturm Graz and Cluj again. 

And former Juventus and Italy star Giancarlo Marocchi reckons there is only one way to change that ...by quieting the Parkhead crowd.

The Italian TV pundit said: "Everyone knows what the atmosphere will be like at Celtic. But if Lazio starts positively and keeps possession for the first ten minutes, that will soon quiet the fans down and get them frustrated.

"Then they allow their technicians on the ball to unlock the Celtic defence because they have better players."

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