Lazio-Cremonese: Matchday 16 begins

Lazio and Cremonese, separated by two points, kick off the pre-Christmas round of league fixtures.

Serie A matchday 16 begins at the Olimpico: following their incredible win against Parma, which saw them play with nine men against Parma’s eleven men, Lazio host Cremonese in an effort to secure two wins in a row for the first time this season. Cremonese will be aiming to continue surprising people; having put the defeat to Torino behind them, they are chasing three points that would see them overtake their opponents in the standings.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

Head-to-heads between the two clubs in Rome total 14: 11 wins for the capital side (the most recent 3-2 in the 2022/23 Serie A), 2 draws (the last 1-1 in the 1989/90 Serie A) and 1 win for the Grigiorossi (most recently 0-1 in the 1981/82 Serie B). Lazio have won the last 6 meetings in Rome against the Lombards and have scored in 9 in a row, for a total of 21 goals. The last scoreless game was a 0-0 in May 1986 in Serie B. Cremonese have not come away unbeaten from the Olimpico on the Biancocelesti side since September 1989, a 1-1 in Serie A with goals by Dezotti and Ruben Sosa—a match played at the Stadio Flaminio, with the Olimpico unavailable due to renovations ahead of Italia ’90.

DID YOU KNOW?

Only Inter (21) have earned more points than Lazio (18, level with Napoli) against teams in the bottom half of the table. Lazio have not won any match in 2025 against newly promoted sides (4 draws, 1 defeat).

COACHES and PLAYERS

This is the 12th official meeting between Maurizio Sarri and Davide Nicola: in the previous 11, Sarri leads 5-4 with 2 draws. Among those 11 meetings is the 2012/13 Serie B promotion playoff final, won by Nicola’s Livorno over Sarri’s Empoli: 1-1 in the first leg at the Castellani and 1-0 to the Amaranto in the return at the Armando Picchi. Davide Nicola reaches 400 matches in professional leagues as a coach: so far, 240 in Serie A, 91 in Serie B and 68 in Lega Pro, with a record of 128 wins, 104 draws and 167 defeats. His debut came on 22 August 2010: Lumezzane-Pavia 1-1 in Lega Pro Prima Divisione, in charge of the home side.

DISCIPLINE

Suspended: Zaccagni, Basic (2) (Lazio); Payero (Cremonese) Cautioned: Guendouzi (Lazio)

REFEREE

PAIRETTO (LAUDATO – REGATTIERI) IV: BONACINA, VAR: CAMPLONE, AVAR: MANGANIELLO

UPCOMING MATCHES

Udinese-Lazio (Saturday, December 27, 18.00 CET) Cremonese-Napoli (Sunday, December 28, 15.00 CET) (Photo Getty Images + LaPresse)