Nobody needed a goal more than Castellanos - Lazio's striker made his case in Venezia win
STADIO OLIMPICO (Rome): Marco Baroni got off to a winning start as Lazio coach as his side came from behind to ruin Venezia's Serie A return with a 3-1 win on a hot and muggy night in the capital.
The Lagunari ended their two-year absence from the top flight in style when Magnus Andersen pounced on a Nicolo Rovella error to sweep a wonderful finish into the top corner and silence the home crowd with little more than two minutes on the clock.
But Lazio responded as Taty Castellanos pulled one back soon after before a penalty from newly-appointed captain Mattia Zaccagni completed the comeback before half-time.
The three points were sealed when Manuel Lazzarri's daisy-cutter cross into the six-yard box was turned into his own net by Giorgio Altare with 10 minutes remaining.
Taty repays Baroni's faith with strong start
All eyes were on Castellanos at the dawn of Lazio's post-Ciro Immobile era. To say he had some doubters about whether he was capable of succeeding the club’s all-time scorer would be an understatement of epic proportions.
In an erratic debut season, the Argentinian showed he was effective at linking up with his teammates and stitching attacks together, but his dreadful finishing made him a figure of fun at times.
Baroni stood by his man for the opening night of the Biancocelesti’s season and Castellanos simply had to deliver not only to quieten his critics, but to stave off the competition he now has.
Tijjani Noslin was positioned on the right wing but can - as we saw at Verona last season - operate effectively through the middle, while Boulaye Dia warmed the Olimpico bench two days after completing his long-awaited move from Salernitana.
Few players needed a goal more than Castellanos on the opening weekend of Serie A and he found it inside 11 minutes, pinching the ball off a dozy Michael Svoboda on the edge of the box before setting himself and finishing unusually calmly.
He went on to miss a header from eight yards to a chorus of groans, but recovered to win the penalty that completed the Aquile's comeback before striking the woodwork twice in the second half.
When he was replaced with five minutes to go, it was to a warm ovation from the Olimpico public that was hard-earned and well-deserved.
Whether this will be the start of a critic-crushing second season for Taty is yet to be seen. After all, Venezia at home is likely to be one of the softer fixtures teams face this term.
But he did what he had to, and got this young, unpredictable, new-look Lazio off to the winning start they desperately needed after a tumultuous 2023/24.