Lazio 2-1 Parma: Kenneth Taylor and a Diego Carlos own goal hold off a late scare

Lazio controlled almost two-thirds of the ball and turned it into a two-goal cushion inside the first hour, and that was enough. Kenneth Taylor opened the scoring five minutes into the second half, Diego Carlos turned the ball into his own net eight minutes later to make it 2-0, and Parma's reply did not arrive until the fifth minute of stoppage time, when substitute Simone Lontani converted a Giovanni Fabbian pass. By then there was no time left for a second grab at an equaliser, and Lazio closed out a 2-1 win at the Stadio Olimpico.

A lopsided afternoon that still went to the wire

The possession and shot numbers point to a comfortable Lazio afternoon: 68% of the ball, five shots on target to Parma's four, and a passing completion rate of 89% against the visitors' 73%. What they don't explain is why the game stayed open until the 95th minute. Parma committed 12 fouls to Lazio's five and never got out of their own half for long stretches, yet needed only one moment of quality — Fabbian's pass picking out Lontani in the box — to turn a comfortable afternoon into a nervy final whistle for the home crowd.

Match facts

• 30' — Oliver Provstgaard (Lazio) booked
• 38' — Vincent Sierro (Parma) booked
• 50' — GOAL: Kenneth Taylor (Lazio)
• 58' — GOAL: own goal, Diego Carlos (Parma) turns the ball into his own net
• 90'+5' — GOAL: Simone Lontani (Parma), assisted by Giovanni Fabbian

Line-ups

• Lazio (4-3-3): Christos Mandas, Oliver Provstgaard, Josip Sutalo, Nuno Tavares, Romano Floriani, Reda Belahyane, Kenneth Taylor, Davide Frattesi, Tijjani Noslin, Mattia Zaccagni, Gustav Isaksen. Came on: Alfonso Pedraza, Diogo Leite, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, Manuel Lazzari.
• Parma (5-3-2): Edoardo Corvi, Mariano Troilo, Dominik Drobnic, Diego Carlos, Emanuele Valeri, Enrico Del Prato, Vincent Sierro, Christian Ordoñez, Mandela Keita, José Romero, El Bilal Toure. Came on: Giovanni Fabbian, Matija Frigan, Simone Lontani, Adrián Bernabé.

The form each side carried in

Lazio arrived unbeaten in five, with four wins and a draw, their only dropped points a 2-2 at home to AC Milan — and this result stretched that run to six matches without defeat. Parma's last five had read D L W L L, with a single win in that span, a 2-1 at home over Genoa on 20 September, and this defeat extends their current run to two straight league losses, both by a two-goal margin before Lontani's late consolation.

What's next

Lazio move to 22 points, level with leaders Inter and inside the Champions League places. Parma stay on 4 points and 17th, just above a bottom three of Udinese, Fiorentina and Venezia who are separated from them by a single point — Simone Lontani's goal bought his side nothing in the table, but it was still the only thing to take from Rome.