Sabatini: Lazio Dreaming of Being Italy's Leicester City After Unbeaten Start

What happened

Lazio's unbeaten start to the Serie A season has prompted Sport Mediaset journalist Sandro Sabatini to describe the club as dreaming of becoming "the Italian Leicester," according to comments he made to TuttoMercatoWeb. Sabatini noted that nobody would have bet a single euro on Gennaro Gattuso's side leading the table after 11 games. Lazio sit top on 29 points, which the report describes as the club's best-ever total at this stage of a season.

Report details

The position marks a sharp reversal from the summer, when supporters were protesting against president Claudio Lotito's running of the club. Sabatini said the fans' mood was at rock bottom in mid-August and they are now in seventh heaven, adding that although Lotito had been accused of years of poor transfer windows, he has actually signed some good players. Sabatini framed the prospect of a title challenge as "a lovely dream, full of contradictions," while declining to offer predictions himself.

On the title race, Sabatini said Inter are the strongest side and Roma are on Inter's level, with Lazio the ones dreaming. He pointed to Leicester City's famous 2016 Premier League triumph, which the report notes came after the club started the season as 5,000-1 outsiders, as the comparison behind his remark.

Sabatini also credited Gattuso, who returned to club football this summer after failing to lead Italy to the World Cup. He said Gattuso had been seen as a coach whose best days were behind him but has revitalised players who were not properly valued under Sarri. Looking ahead, Sabatini still regards Inter and Roma as favourites but expects Lazio to stay in the Champions League race, calling them his surprise contenders for fourth place and saying they are putting Milan, Juventus and Napoli at risk of missing out on next season's Champions League. He also noted that Como are third despite a bad night at San Siro.