INJURIES COUNT

Lazio may have suffered only one defeat in the last five matches, but the rising injury count could prove to be a major problem for manager Vladimir Petkovic in the coming weeks. Ahead of the Europa league match with Trabzonspor, the Lazio manager expressed his concern about the players currently on the injury table. The team comes into the match on the back of a 2-2 draw with newly promoted Sassuolo, which has put them sixth in the table with 10 points. Key players like Miroslav Klose, Stefan Radu, Abdoulay Konko, and Bruno Pereirinha will be unavailable for this match.

Petkovic is unlikely to be worried about the lack of these players for the Europa league because the club is concentrating on the league. They have seen archrivals Roma start the season in great fashion. Roma are currently top of the Italian Serie A after winning all of the matches so far. Despite this long injury list, Petkovic is confident of getting three points away to a Turkish club. Three points from this match will put Lazio in a commanding position in the group after managing a 1-0 win over Legia Warsaw in the first round match.

Lazio will also have one eye on the important clash with Fiorentina on Monday.

“We will do everything possible to win and we are optimistic. Obviously, when the squad is fully fit and complete then we’ll have the opportunity to play better. It’s a shame, as we almost always seem to be missing players, but I don’t want to ‘burn’ the youngsters by putting too much on their shoulders. Trabzonspor are a typical Turkish team. They are very strong on home turf, aggressive and with quality foreign imports,” said Petkovic.

A defeat, however, will be bad for Lazio since Trabzonspor also won their first group match.