Lennon Miller embroiled in chaotic six-goal thriller as Scotland ace stars alongside former Celtic man
Scotland midfielder’s side denied in chaotic six-goal thriller.
Scotland international Lennon Miller was denied a famous Serie A win as Lazio bagged a dramatic late equaliser to rescue a 3-3 draw against his Udinese side at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Monday night.
Starting the game on the substitutes bench, the former Motherwell midfielder watched on as experienced Dutch winger Kingsley Ehizibue put Kosta Runjaic’s side ahead after just 18 minutes with a right-footed shot in the area. Luca Pellegrini levelled the scores five minutes after the restart, though, firing into the top corner following a corner.
Replacing Polish international Jakub Piotrowski just after the hour mark, Miller’s introduction to the fray coincided with a chaotic final quarter of the game that saw both sides go all out for the win. Firstly, experienced Spanish forward Pedro put the home side into the lead for the first time on the night with a stunning curled effort on 80 minutes.
They wouldn’t be in front for long, though, with Udinese restoring parity in the 86th minute when former Celtic forward Vakoun Bayo saw his downwards header saved, but Arthur Atta was on hand to tap home into an empty net. Nicolo Zaniolo then blocked an effort from Miller, before the visitors scored what they thought was the winner. French midfielder Atta was at the forefront of the action once more, combining with Bayo in the third minute of stoppage time to fire home from just inside the box.
However, there was one final sting in the tail for the Bianconeri. Deep into stoppage time, Nicolo Casale crashed a header off the crossbar as Lazio scrambled for an equaliser. Pedro reacted quickest to the rebound, and his shot was turned in at the back post by Daniel Maldini, sending the home crowd into raptures.
“At the end of the match I went to Maurizio Sarri [Lazio manager] to ask for a cigarette,” joked Udinese boss Runjaic. “I told him I needed one too, and he did me a favour and gave me a cigarette to smoke. We will learn from this draw. Lazio is a well-organised team and it wasn’t easy to find spaces, but the spaces were there and I told the lads that.
“Lazio found energy again and scored two great goals in the second half. Then this is football: we got back into the game with great energy, but just as we scored, we got caught out again. As a coach I’m not happy, but it was still an entertaining match. In football there are different moments; even though we made some mistakes, we will try to learn from this game and I am optimistic for the upcoming matches.”
Miller, 19, who ended the game with an impressive 88 per cent passing accuracy rate and two chances created, is hoping to be included in Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad for the World Cup this summer after a solid first season in the Italian top flight. Moving for a reported fee of £4million from Motherwell in September, the youngster had to be patient in waiting for his chance, but has now featured in 16 of Udinese’s last 17 games in all competitions.
The result leaves Runjaic’s side slap bang in the middle of the Serie A table in 11th, with four games remaining. They face Che Adam’s Torino at home next weekend, while they also travel to face Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour’s Napoli on the final day of the season.
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