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Juventus are officially in the preliminary round of the Champions League after demolishing Lazio.
Claudio Ranieri insisted there was no need to celebrate, especially with second place theoretically up for grabs. Vincenzo Iaquinta remained sidelined, but Lazio were decimated after bans for Luciano Zauri, Ousmane Dabo and Cristian Ledesma joined the injured Tommaso Rocchi, Valon Behrami and Mourad Meghni. It was a special game for ex-Lazio men Pavel Nedved and Gugliemo Stendardo, the latter leaving in January after a furious row with Delio Rossi.
David Trezeguet nodded off target, but it was a similar move that opened the scoring. Giorgio Chiellini's glancing header flashed into the far bottom corner from a Mauro German Camoranesi free kick.
Juventus doubled their advantage with Camoranesi, although Trezeguet should've had it when he incredibly scuffed Alessandro Del Piero's assist from six yards, but the move continued for Camoranesi to side-foot in.
There was truly just one team in this match. Cristiano Zanetti's searching pass allowed Del Piero to cut back past his marker and sweep a perfect left-foot finish into the bottom far corner of the net.
Incredibly 120 seconds later it was 4-0. Camoranesi again inspired with his through ball that Trezeguet flicked up off his heel to slide in at the near post from seven yards.
Lazio finally woke up and had a chance before the break, but a brilliant Gigi Buffon save denied Stefano Mauri's diving header.
Marco Ballotta beat away a powerful Nedved attempt, but Mauri was clear on goal and lost his footing as he went round Buffon, wasting a glorious opportunity.
Rolando Bianchi restored a little dignity with a consolation goal, as Mauri nodded the ball into his path for a precise lob.
Juventus seemed to have stayed in the locker room psychologically for the second half, as Lazio made it 4-2 with a fine Sebastiano Siviglia diving header from Fabio Vignaroli's cross.
The Bianconeri woke up and Nedved cracked the crossbar on the counter-attack, while Lazio went down to 10 men on 75 minutes when Siviglia got a second booking for his tackle on Nedved. It confirms Lazio's status as the least disciplined side in Serie A.
They made it 5-2 in the final minute from a Camoranesi corner kick, as Aleksandr Kolarov slipped during his clearance to effectively set up Chiellini's tap-in from six yards.
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