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Lazio had never received a penalty this season, but got two at once to defeat Atalanta.
Delio Rossi faced his former club, but there was no time for sentiment, as Lazio needed a victory to catch up to the Orobici. In 14th place going into this weekend, they weren't out of the relegation battle yet and fell 1-0 to Empoli last Sunday. Atalanta were in eighth position and twice fought back to hold Fiorentina 2-2.
The Bergamo boys last conquered the Olimpico in October 1997, but the home side were missing Mourad Meghni, Massimo Mutarelli, Fabio Firmani, Luciano Zauri, Lorenzo De Silvestri and the suspended Aleksandar Kolarov.
Goran Pandev's spectacular scissor-kick pass sent Tommaso Rocchi clear for Ferdinando Coppola to use his body as a shield from close range.
Pandev sent Christian Manfredini clear and the goalkeeper clattered into the former Chievo man, allowing Rocchi to convert the resulting penalty by sending Coppola the wrong way. That was the first spot-kick awarded to Lazio this season.
On the stroke of half-time Marco Ballotta needed to be alert to deny two great chances. First the oldest player in Serie A tipped a Cristiano Doni free kick out of the top corner, then he rushed out to close down Sergio Floccari.
Guarente came off the bench and immediately flashed a dangerous strike across the face of goal to skim the far top corner. Cristian Ledesma responded with one of his trademark piledrivers from 25 metres.
Pandev doubled the advantage after the restart with a persistent personal goal. Coppola did what he could and was helped by defenders to charge it down, but the Macedonian got the ball back to squeeze it in at the near post.
Ballotta was again decisive with an acrobatic save on Doni's flick from a Tissone assist.
Rolando Bianchi was brought down by Pellegrino for an extremely soft penalty and Rocchi blasted under the bar with his right foot. There was a curious moment as Bianchi had asked to take the spot-kick so he could break his Serie A duck, but Rocchi refused.
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