Coppa Italia: Lazio 3 Verona 2

Lazio survived a two-goal fightback from Verona to escape with a 3-2 win in their Coppa Italia round-of-16 tie at the Stadio Olimpico on Tuesday.

Efforts from Andre Dias and Tommaso Rocchi saw Edoardo Reja’s men lead 2-0 early in the second half, but substitutes Emanuele Berrettoni and Marco D’Alessandro drew the Serie B side level with 15 minutes to play.

Hernanes had the final say on the contest, as his free-kick in the 90th minute was curled in to send the home side through to the quarter-finals.

Verona were nearly ahead after just 28 seconds, but Sasa Bjelanovic’s header from point-blank range was stopped by a stunning one-handed save from Albano Bizzarri.

Lazio settled down soon after that early scare, but with Verona content to sit deep and soak up the pressure, they found it difficult to find a meaningful sight on goal.

However, that all changed in the 36th minute, when a swift piece of interplay between Rocchi and Giuseppe Sculli saw the former tee up the latter for a shot which flew just wide.

The hosts went even closer two minutes later after a searching ball by Cristian Ledesma found Rocchi unmarked at the edge of the six-yard box, but the veteran striker’s volley was thwarted by Rafael.

Lazio were finally able to break Verona’s resistance a minute before the interval, when Ledesma’s corner went unchallenged, leaving Dias with the simplest of tap-ins from two yards out.

Reja’s men soon got a second via a fortuitous goal by Rocchi in the 58th minute, when his strike took a huge deflection off Giuseppe Pugliese, looped over Rafael and nestled into the back of the net.

Verona wasted little time in responding. Pugliese made amends for his unfortunate hand in the second Lazio goal, when his pinpoint cross was headed in from close range by substitute Berrettoni in the 61st minute.

Berrettoni turned provider 12 minutes later, as his incisive ball from midfield released fellow substitute D’Alessandro past the Lazio back line to slot past Bizzarri and incredibly draw the visitors level.

Both sides went on the offensive in their bid to find a winner, and Matteo Abbate blasted into the side-netting from a counterattack before Miroslav Klose spurned two good chances – heading wide from close range and volleying over the bar from eight yards out.

There was no need for extra-time, however, as Hernanes curled home a superb set piece from 20 yards out on the stroke of injury time to break the hearts of the Serie B side.

Lazio will play the winner of the Milan-Novara tie in the quarter-finals.