Baroni: ‘Deserved Lazio victory , Pedro the right man’ for penalty at 98th minute

MILAN, ITALY – MARCH 02: Marco Baroni, Head Coach of Lazio, reacts during the Serie A match between AC Milan and SS Lazio at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on March 02, 2025 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Marco Baroni feels that Lazio had a ‘deserved victory’ against Milan, even if it should’ve been sealed before the last-gasp penalty with so many chances. ‘Pedro is the right man.’

The Aquile were feeling the pressure too going into San Siro, having been knocked out of the Coppa Italia here on Tuesday by Inter, along with back-to-back Serie A stalemates against Napoli and Venezia.

They had taken the lead with Mattia Zaccagni, then despite seeing Strahinja Pavlovic sent off at the 67^th minute, had still conceded the Samuel Chukwueze headed equaliser.

The drama continued deep into stoppages with a VAR review for Mike Maignan’s foul on Gustav Isaksen, allowing veteran Pedro to convert the 98^th minute penalty.

Baroni sees Lazio belief growing

“When I said we are a good team that plays good football, we need to work to become a great team. They are doing that, one game at a time, and I knew this would allow us to show our character,” Baroni told DAZN.

“We had 20 shots on goal, so we’ve got to grow in terms of maturity, self-belief and determination. It was a deserved victory, our only error was perhaps thinking we could take our foot off the gas when they went down to 10 men, but that is really not in our nature. We’ve got to keep playing.

“This is what I mean when I talk about maturity and growth, we should’ve controlled the tempo better in that situation. We should’ve scored more than one goal with that many chances, but the team must not be conservative, it should always be attacking and positive. That is what brings results.”

Isaksen was brought down by Pavlovic for the red card and then was fouled by Maignan for the last-gasp penalty, so is making a real impact now at Lazio.

“Isaksen has incredible potential, I saw it in him, but he needed it brought out of him with belief. His mentality is growing, because the quality was always there, but he is now becoming a decisive player. Strikers make their mark with goals and assists, but also the hard work he and Zaccagni were doing covering the spaces.

“I think Milan struggled badly in the first half because Lazio had a great performance.”

Baroni was asked how tense he felt when Pedro stepped up for that penalty at the 98^th minute.

“When a penalty is taken, you know anything can happen, but Pedro is the right man to take the ball, so I felt very confident. He never makes a mistake from the spot in training, but he also says that it only counts when you don’t make a mistake in a stadium full of people. He is one of those players,” smiled Baroni.

Lazio are out of the Coppa Italia, but are in the Europa League Round of 16 where the first leg against Viktoria Plzen is on Thursday evening.