Lazio midfielder Luis Alberto showed little mercy as he punished his former coach and mentor Simone Inzaghi with his wondergoal in Friday evening’s Serie A win.
This according to yesterday’s print edition of Rome-based newspaper Corriere dello Sport, who note that the 29-year-old’s decisive impact from the bench was cruelly unsentimental coming as it did against a coach who had been key to his development as a player.
Inzaghi’s influence on Alberto’s emergence as a key midfielder for Lazio has not gone without notice, as the Spaniard was given the freedom to express himself as an attacking midfielder before the coach trusted him to transition to more of a mezzala role where he thrived.
Alberto has not always had it easy under Inzaghi’s successor at the Biancocelesti Maurizio Sarri, and has had to settle for substitute appearances in all of the team’s opening three matches this season after an expected move to Sevilla fell through.
However, the 29-year-old has proved his quality when he has been used off the bench, none more-so than in yesterday’s match, where his injection of quality and long-range goal were key in securing a statement win against the Nerazzurri.
Alberto may well not have been the player he is today were it not for the effect that working with Inzaghi across many seasons had on his evolution as a player, and this time around it was Inzaghi himself who fell victim to the Spaniard’s talents.